Beijing's decision to lift lockdown policies earlier this month triggered a surge in cases, spurring concerns around the world that a dangerous new variant could emerge.Meloni said that authorities in Lombardy had been sequencing the virus, “because we need to know if what is arriving is something we have already seen, and so covered by vaccines or not … Of 30 cases we are sequencing, the first 15 are all Omicron, which is already present in Italy,” she said.Meloni said the government had asked the EU for a bloc-wide response on mandatory testing, otherwise, she feared Italy’s testing policy risked being ineffective."But this measure may not be completely effective unless it is taken by the whole EU, because we can do it for direct flights but not those with a transit."On Thursday, EU health officials met to review the situation and resolved to continue working toward a bloc-wide response, but stopped short of setting out any details on new action."