On Monday 21 December, Member States’ experts meeting within the European Crisis Response Committee (IPCR) discussed the consequences of a new variant of the coronavirus for the free movement of persons.
The day before, more than 15 Member States had closed their borders with the United Kingdom in an attempt to stop the spread of this highly contagious variant on the continent.
No decision has been taken at this stage, but a meeting of Member States’ Ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper) could take place on 22 December to identify more concrete measures for coordination among the EU27, one source said. These measures include systematic PCR testing and identifying the categories of people who can still travel from the UK.
The aim is to reflect on how all Member States can reopen their borders with the UK without taking risks. “The importance of keeping the borders open in Schengen”, was recalled, one source reported. The European Commission has been asked to prepare guidelines on this new situation.
On Sunday, many EU countries suspended their air, sea and rail links with the UK. Countries associated with the Schengen area, such as Switzerland, have imposed a quarantine on all travellers from that country who have already been on Swiss territory since 14 December.
In parallel with the IPCR meeting, a meeting of the Health Security Committee was devoted on Monday to an exchange of information on this new variant of Covid-19 (see other news). The European Medicines Agency found that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, authorised on the same day in the EU, remains effective against this variant.
To date, Member States have not formally banned travel to neighbouring countries. Some impose restrictions such as mandatory testing and quarantines upon return or entry. Several countries, such as France, had announced random checks at borders to monitor travel to border countries that had not closed their ski resorts.
A new variant not necessarily more dangerous
According to the European Committee for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the new strain of coronavirus detected in the United Kingdom is more transmissible, but not necessarily more dangerous.
This is the result of its threat assessment published on Sunday 20 December. “Preliminary analysis in the UK suggests that this variant is significantly more transmissible than previously circulating variants, with an estimated potential to increase the reproductive number (R) by 0.4 or greater with an estimated increased transmissibility of up to 70%”, the report says.
To date, infections with the new variant have been reported in Denmark and the Netherlands and, according to media reports, in Belgium.
More info at: http://bit.ly/2J8IKt7 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Sophie Petitjean)