EU states agree on COVID-19 guidelines for travel amid resurgence of infections

The European Union (EU) member states have jointly agreed upon setting up common health measures for travel amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the region. In the wake of a renewed outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the European Commission announced on October 13 that the EU envoys have adopted a guideline in a meeting that took place in Luxembourg.

Imposing a ban on movement limits for essential travel for particularly the cross-border workers within Europe, the agreement has cited the exception of cases that meet the common criteria. The newly adopted COVID-19 guidelines will also determine the rates of testing, test positivity and also the number of cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days. 

"On 13 October, EU Member States adopted a Council Recommendation on a coordinated approach to the restriction of free movement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic," the European Commission said in a statement.

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Coloured map of EU states

Furthermore, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) will also create the coloured maps of all the 27 member states based on the data received by the authorities. This map would help to determine the COVID-19 risk levels of the European countries with colours ranging from green to grey with the latter shade implying the information regarding health situation from the region is insufficient.

The EU member states are also presented with a choice to adopt only the measures that the respective authorities deem necessary such as quarantine period on travellers or COVID-19 testing of the people arriving from high-risk regions. The European Commission also extended the ‘State aid Temporary Framework’, which was introduced on March 19 until June 30, 2021, to support the member states deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The European Commission said in a statement, “The European Commission has decided to prolong and extend the scope of the State aid Temporary Framework adopted on 19 March 2020 to support the economy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.”

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Image: AP