Member States’ Ambassadors to the EU meeting in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) continued their exchanges on Friday 18 September on how to better coordinate national measures against Covid-19 and avoid chaotic restrictions on movement in the EU with divergent colour codes.
In particular, they took note of a progress report prepared by the German Presidency of the EU Council, which welcomed the “positive reception” received and the rapid consensus reached “on databases and communication”, a spokesman said.
This progress report, as seen by EUROPE, thus presents the points on which the EU27 have agreed.
The European Centre for Disease Control will be asked “to provide weekly a comprehensive set of data on the following key indicators: 14-day notification rate of new cases per 100,000 population, screening rate per 100,000 population, test positivity rate”.
The ECDC will also be required to provide weekly data on population size, hospitalisation rate, intensive care admission rate and mortality rate, if available.
A “possible visualisation of the three key indicators in a comprehensive map has yet to be agreed upon”, the note says. In the meantime, the ECDC will therefore be requested to provide a separate map for each indicator contributing to this overall map, the 14-day notification rate at regional level and the screening and test positivity rates at national level.
The Presidency concluded that it still needed to continue discussions on these regional data.
A general rule of 24 hours’ notice of measures
Regarding communication/information sharing between Member States and communication to the public, this should be done “as soon as possible before the entry into force of new general measures. As a general rule, this information should be published 24 hours before the entry into force of the measures, bearing in mind that some flexibility is needed in the event of an epidemiological emergency”, the report says.
On the other hand, the Presidency notes in its report complex and even “sensitive” discussions on the harmonisation of risk criteria or “common risk assessment”.
Member States have “recalled the responsibilities of national governments in matters relating to public health. A possible catalogue of common measures is worth pursuing”.
At this stage, the report only refers to the readiness of Member States to look into “measures that have proved successful in some Member States: for example, passenger location forms”. The EU27 therefore do not yet agree on the modalities of a common framework for the duration of quarantine, comparable test criteria or mutual recognition of test results. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)