The Health Security Committee is attempting to alleviate the lack of coordination between Member States in their responses to Covid-19. This is what has emerged from the minutes of the meetings held on 21 and 24 July and published on 29 July.
According to the minutes, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has complained about differences between the ways Member States are recording cases, even though the EU27 agreed a common definition. It noted that “taking different approaches will make it impossible to gain a full overview of the epidemiological situation”.
Germany called for a common EU approach to travellers returning from journeys abroad and to implementation of quarantine periods. The minutes of the 21 July meeting highlight a range of different practices, from the use of colour coding in Belgium (red = compulsory quarantine and orange = recommended quarantine) to compulsory quarantine in Estonia as soon as travellers return from an area where the per capita rate is higher than 16 cases per 100,000.
Lastly, to follow this up, the Commission is currently carrying out a survey in order to initiate a discussion on a common testing strategy. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)