ROME – Italy expects and hopes that the European Union will follow its lead on imposing mandatory Covid-19 tests for all passengers flying in from China, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday.

She said Italys measures risked not being fully effective if not extended across the EU, and indicated that preliminary tests showed that Covid-19-positive travellers from China have already known Omicron variants.

We expect and hope that the EU will want to act in this manner, Ms Meloni told an end-of-year press conference in Rome.

The Prime Minister, who criticised national lockdown measures while she was in opposition, said she did not believe that the reintroduction of restrictive measures would be the best way to face a possible new Covid-19 crisis.

As the Italian leader was speaking, top health officials from the EU were holding talks in Brussels to try to coordinate very different views on how to respond to Chinas decision to lift its Covid-19 restrictions amid a wave of infections there. REUTERS More On This Topic Europe seeks joint stance on Covid-19 measures towards China India to require Covid-19 tests for travellers from 6 locations including S'pore