Tighter curbs sought for EU virus hot spots

Bloc proposes 'dark red' alert for worst zones to deter all but essential travel

BRUSSELS－The European Commission wants to add a "dark red" category to its color-coded mapping system for coronavirus infections, identifying hot spots from which all but essential travel within the European Union would be discouraged.

The bloc's executive put the proposal to EU leaders on Thursday at a meeting to discuss the mounting challenges posed by more infectious virus variants. Today, as shown on the EU's "traffic light" indications of risk, almost all of Europe is red.

The EU leaders also agreed at the meeting, held via video, that it should be possible to agree on common standards for vaccine certificates for medical purposes. However, they left for later a debate on whether they could be used to enable travel, as Greece and Spain want.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference after the meeting that the health situation in Europe was "very serious", with new variants and an increase in infections.

She stressed that countries should not close their borders, to ensure the functioning of the single market, including the flow of goods and travel for cross-border workers.

Von der Leyen, of the proposed change to the traffic light system for travel guidance, said: "Persons traveling from dark red areas could be required to do a test before departure, as well as to undergo quarantine after arrival."

All nonessential travel should be discouraged from these areas, she said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said before the meeting that European countries needed to take the new mutation found in the United Kingdom seriously to avoid a third wave.

"We can't rule out border closures, but want to prevent them through cooperation within the European Union," she told a news conference in Berlin.

Alexander De Croo, prime minister of Belgium, where cases per capita are lower than in its neighbors, said he would ask fellow EU leaders to halt nonessential travel, such as tourism. The prime minister had proposed a temporary ban on nonessential travel during the February school break.

"The slightest spark could push the figures back up again. We need to protect our good position," he told broadcaster VRT.

Great importance

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said after the conference: "It is of great importance not to travel, but you cannot immediately enforce this legally."

"Most said free movement must survive but that it is vital to ask (people) not to travel," Rutte said. "It is essential that we discourage travel in Europe as much as possible. Don't travel, simply don't travel."

Nearly 400,000 EU citizens have died from COVID-19-related causes since the start of the pandemic, and the head of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, or ECDC, Andrea Ammon, said: "An increasing number of infections will lead to higher hospitalization and death rates across all age groups, particularly for those in older age groups."

Some EU countries have already strengthened restrictions by imposing stricter curfews and more stringent mask requirements on public transport and in shops. Among the measures the ECDC recommends is a ban on nonessential travel and a speeding up of vaccinations.

On vaccination certificates, the EU executive wants the 27 member states to agree on a common approach by the end of January. Under such a scenario, a certificate from Estonia would be accepted in Portugal, for example.

Greece and Spain have floated the idea that the certificates could help restore cross-border travel.

However, French President Emmanuel Macron said vaccine passports needed to be looked at with "great caution", according to the Elysee, particularly because it was not yet clear if vaccinated people could still transmit the virus to others.

Charles Michel, the European Council president who chairs EU summits, said this would have to be a debate for later.

Agencies - Xinhua