Like several of her colleagues before her, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has decided to quarantine herself after coming into contact with a positive case. According to a spokesperson for the institution, Mrs von der Leyen tested negative on Monday 5 October. Since she has no symptoms, she should be out of quarantine by Tuesday evening.
Following this, the Commissioner for Innovation and Research, Mariya Gabriel, has announced that she too will isolate herself after a member of her team tested positive.
The two women thus join the list of high-ranking European officials who have gone into quarantine, beginning with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the Executive Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, and the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has identified more than 35 million Covid-19-related infections worldwide and more than 1 million deaths. In Europe, the situation is particularly worrying in Spain and Malta, which have had the highest mortality rates in recent days.
State of play on joint procurement
The European Union is continuing its coordination role to facilitate the future procurement of Covid-19 treatments and vaccines.
According to the latest report from the Health Security Committee, dated 17 September, ten Member States, along with the United Kingdom, Norway, Liechtenstein, Macedonia and Montenegro, are participating in a joint procurement of medicines for intensive care (ICU), even though the evaluation is still being finalised. And 25 countries have applied to participate in the joint procurement of immunisation equipment.
A bulk purchase of Remdesivir is being prepared, with the participation of “all Member States”, and should be concluded soon in order to avoid an implementation deficit.
More info at: https://bit.ly/33yt5dK (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)