EU regulator warns of COVID rise in "cold winter"
The EU's medicines regulator urged Europe to prepare for a new wave of COVID-19 as "cold winter months" arrive.
"Over the last weeks we have not seen a major increase in COVID-19 case rates in the EU as a result of rising immunity following vaccinations and natural infections," Marco Cavaleri, head of Health Threats and Vaccines Strategy of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), told an online press briefing.
"However, this could change rapidly as we are getting into the cold winter months," Cavaleri said. "This virus is maintaining a fast pace in its evolution and new subvariants of Omicron such as BQ.1.1 and its offsprings are on the rise and replacing Omicron BA.5."
These strains show "an increased propensity for immune evasion and growth advantage," he noted, expressing concern that new subvariants like BQ.1.1 are "escaping neutralization by the currently available monoclonal antibody products
EU chief Charles Michel will head to Beijing next week for a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping, a European official told AFP.
The official, confirming a report in the Financial Times, said the European Council president's December 1 visit would be formally announced.
The trip comes amid a lively debate between EU capitals as to how to handle relations with China, amid concerns over Beijing's rights record, threat to Taiwan, trade pressure on some EU countries and support for Russia.
The United States is pushing its Western allies to align themselves against China, but some EU members with important trade links resist splitting world affairs into two camps.
Michel walks a line between Germany, with its important economic interests in China, and EU members like Lithuania, which has courted Beijing's anger by building links with Taiwan.