Coronavirus Europe
EU leaders warn against non-essential travel
They say tighter curbs on trips may come soon amid fears over spread of virus variants
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The Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands was almost deserted on Thursday. From tomorrow, people arriving from outside the European Union could be made to take a Covid-19 test before departure. Travellers from Covid-19 hot spots in the EU will also have to take a test and undergo quarantine.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
BRUSSELS • European Union leaders have "strongly discouraged" Europeans from non-essential travel and warned tougher restrictions on trips could come within days if efforts to curb the coronavirus fall short.
EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel issued the warning on Thursday after a four-hour summit by video link with the heads of government of the 27-nation bloc focused on responding to the second wave of the pandemic.
From tomorrow, anybody arriving from outside the EU - possible only for those with essential reasons - could be made to take a test for Covid-19 before departure, Dr von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said.
Meanwhile, hot spots of Covid-19 infections in the EU will be labelled "dark red" zones, and travellers from those areas will be required to take a test before departure and undergo quarantine, she added.
The tone of urgency was fuelled by fears over the spread of highly contagious coronavirus variants that could send already high infection rates skyrocketing and strain hospitals, as is happening in former EU member Britain.
Mr Michel, president of the European Council, said: "It will be probably necessary to take additional restrictive measures in order to limit the non-essential travel and that is the orientation that we are taking."
But both leaders also said the EU wanted to avoid a repeat of the height of the first wave, in March last year, when several member states panicked and closed off national borders unilaterally, triggering travel and economic chaos.
"It is absolutely important to keep the single market functioning," Dr von der Leyen said, so that workers and freight can continue to cross borders.
The EU is "one epidemiological zone", she said. "We will only contain the virus if we have targeted measures, and not unnecessary measures like a blanket closure of borders, which would severely hurt our economy, but not very much restrict the virus."
The variants that contain mutations, or changes to parts of the coronavirus that scientists say make them more transmissible, have already been detected in many countries in Europe and will likely continue to do so, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said in a risk assessment.
After a disappointingly slow start to vaccination in the EU, the European Commission has been urging greater speed from member states.
It hopes to soon authorise more vaccines beyond the BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna ones currently being used and aims to inoculate 70 per cent of adults in the EU before September.
The leaders also discussed vaccine certificates, something tourism-dependent countries such as Greece hope might ease travel curbs and save what looks like another disastrous summer vacation period.
Dr von der Leyen told the leaders that AstraZeneca's vaccine is expected to get conditional market authorisation at the end of next week, with deliveries possibly starting in the middle of next month.
She added that Johnson & Johnson is expected to apply for market authorisation for its vaccine in mid-February. And if it receives the green light in early March, then deliveries can start at the end of March or early April.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
