January 19th local time, the European Commission issued the latest recommendations to member states on anti-epidemic measures to deal with the threat posed by the continuous spread of the novel coronavirus and the mutant virus, and to focus on the current gap between EU member states in vaccination and other aspects.
European Commission Vice President Hienas said at the press conference that these proposals will also be discussed by leaders at the upcoming EU video summit on the 21st.
In its recommendation, the European Commission made it clear that vigilance against mutant viruses should be reflected in the detection and gene sequence analysis of viruses in various countries.
At present, the proportion of genetic sequence analysis of positive test-positive samples in most EU member states is less than 1%, which is not enough to let the health department keep abreast of the spread of mutant viruses or discover new viral variants.
Therefore, the European Commission proposes that member states should increase the proportion of samples for virus gene sequence analysis to at least 5%, preferably 10%.
At the same time, the European Commission also urged member states to speed up the process of COVID-19 vaccination and set a unified goal for this purpose.
The European Commission said that by March this year, the proportion of people over 80 years old and medical personnel in member countries should be vaccinated at least 80%, and by the summer of this year, member countries should vaccinate 70% of the adult population.
The European Commission also said that by the end of January this year, a common vaccination certification mechanism will be formed at the EU level, so that certificates issued by the health systems of member states can be mutually recognized.
