January 21st local time, European Council President Michelle once again convened European Commission President von der Leyen and the leaders of 27 member states to hold a video summit on the coordinated fight against the coronavirus epidemic.
This is the ninth time since the outbreak of the epidemic that a similar meeting has been organized at the EU level.
At the post-conference press conference, Michelle and von der Leyen both believed that the overall epidemic situation in EU countries is still serious, especially the spread of at least three variants of COVID-19, which deserves the vigilance of all countries.
To this end, on the premise of ensuring the smooth passage of people and goods in the internal market, the EU will consider restricting the movement of non-essential personnel between member states.
Von der Leyen said that the most serious dark red area will be added to the current EU epidemic map, and people traveling across the border from the region will be required to be tested for the virus before departure and self-isolated after arriving at their destination.
As for whether there will be other forms of restrictions, the European Commission will discuss the details with member states in the next few days.
On the 21st, EU member states also agreed to strengthen the use of antigen rapid detection and strengthen mutual recognition of virus detection results among member states.
In the relevant recommendations, the European Council proposed to establish a common list of test kits to be certified, unify the application of rapid testing, and share standardized test result data through digital platforms to facilitate cross-border close contact tracing and case treatment among member countries.
On vaccination, Michelle and von der Leyen said that the leaders at the meeting agreed to speed up the vaccination process and hoped to further strengthen the stability and predictability of vaccine delivery.
Regarding the so-called “vaccine passport” that has attracted much attention in Europe recently, Michelle and von der Leyen made it clear that the EU level is currently considering vaccination certificates for medical tracking only, and it is not yet time to discuss whether such certificates can expand the application scenario.
