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Globe Live Media, Monday, January 25, 2021
The executive body of the European Union proposed Monday that the 27 nations that make up the bloc establish travel restrictions in order to curb the worrying spread of new variations of the coronavirus, but at the same time guarantee the crossing of products. and workers across the borders of the EU.
Amid concerns related to the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, the European Commission urged EU countries to strengthen testing and quarantine measures for travelers as mutations of the fastest-transmitting virus threaten with exceeding the capacities of European hospitals with new cases.
More than 400,000 citizens of the European Union have died from the virus since the pandemic first struck Europe last year.
“The start of the vaccination campaign in the European Union started the beginning of the end of the pandemic,” said EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders. At the same time, new and more transmissible variants of the virus have emerged. There are currently a very high number of infections throughout many member states. And there is an urgent need to reduce the risk of travel-related infections to ease the burden on burdened healthcare systems. “
Among the new measures, which need the approval of the EU nations before entering into force, is the addition of a new color “dark red” in the weekly map of infections in the countries of the bloc.
Reynders said the new color highlights areas where the rate of new confirmed infections in the past 14 days is 500 or more per 100,000 residents. And he added that between 10 and 20 EU countries detect that color in advance in all or part of their territory as if it were in force from now on.
“We also believe that those on essential travel arriving from dark red areas need to undergo pre-travel testing and quarantine, unless those measures disproportionately impact the performance of their essential functions,” Reynders explained.