Moscow [Russia], October 13 (ANI/Sputnik): The heads of EU member states have jointly set up common health measures for travel in the wake of the renewed spread of COVID-19 across the European area, which they seek to curb, the European Commission announced on Tuesday.
The meeting of EU envoys who adopted the guideline took place in Luxembourg.
“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.
The agreement includes a ban on movement limits for essential travel and, in particular, cross-border workers within Europe, except for cases meeting the common criteria. It will determine the rates of testing, test positivity and the number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the last two weeks.
In addition, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control will create a colored map of EU states, based on the data received from their authorities, to show the COVID-19-risk levels of European countries by color from green to grey, the latter for information insufficiency regarding the health situation in the region.
EU member states will be allowed to adopt health measures they consider necessary, including imposing a quarantine or testing for travelers arriving from highly infected areas, provided that governments of these states promptly inform the Commission and other EU countries of such decisions. In addition, those with essential function or need will not be required to quarantine upon arrival.
Europe has been under a surge of coronavirus infections. Governments of the EU member have reported increasing daily numbers, but have been trying to prevent nationwide lockdowns by implementing additional restrictive measures locally. (ANI/Sputnik)
