Arrivals from China will be subjected to monitoring and potential testing until the end of March, according to a statement issued by the ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs.
On Wednesday, the EU member states issued a recommendation for sanitary measures to be applied to travellers entering Europe from the People's Republic of China, following a sharp rise in Covid infections since December 2022.
Luxembourg authorities have now confirmed they will be applying these measures until 31 March, following a recommendation by the Health Security Committee.
As of Monday, travellers entering Luxembourg who have stayed in China for 14 days preceding their arrival must declare their presence to the Health Inspectorate.
The authorities will then issue testing invitations at random to the people concerned, offering free detection tests which will be submitted to the National Health Laboratory (LNS) for sequencing. This method is designed to alert authorities to any potential new virus variants as early as possible.
The measures apply to anyone who has stayed in China for 14 days prior to their arrival, regardless of the duration of their stay in China or in Luxembourg, and regardless of the means of transport used to reach Luxembourgish territory.
However, people employed in the transport sector will be exempt, as are passengers transiting through Luxembourg. This measure should be understood as complementary to any measures already in place at international airports in European Union countries receiving direct commercial flights from China.
The LNS and the Luxembourg Institute for Science and Technology (LIST) will also ramp up the monitoring of the country's wastewater, with a particular focus on the region around Luxembourg airport.
