ROMA – “Europeans should enjoy a safe and relaxing summer,” the president of the European Commission writes on Twitter Ursula von der Leyen. This is why “as vaccination progresses, we propose to gradually facilitate travel measures in a coordinated way with our common tool: the EU digital Covid certificate. It will bring clarity and predictability when we resume free travel in the EU”.
The commission’s proposal is based on two pillars: lightening the measures on the one hand; to have an emergency brake available, on the other hand, to be pulled in the event of a resurgence of the epidemic.
The duration of the pass
As the European Commissioner for Justice explained Didier Reynders at a press conference from Brussels, the update of the guidelines for the green certificate which should exempt travelers within the EU who hold it from the test and / or quarantine obligations, provides that the pass becomes valid “fourteen days after the last dose “of anti-Covid vaccine: the second for AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, the first and only one for Janssen (J&J). This should also cover recovered people who received a single dose of a 2-dose vaccine. Furthermore, for those recovered from the infection, the pass, valid from recovery, should remain in force for 180 days starting from the positive molecular test. Those who are not vaccinated or do not have antibodies or the disease or the administration has still passed too much time, will have to do a swab: the molecular ones could have a validity of “72 hours”, while the rapid ones “48 hours”.
Minors traveling with their parents
“To ensure family unity – adds the Commission – minors traveling with their parents should be exempted from quarantine when their parents do not have to undergo isolation, for example because they are vaccinated. And” children under 6 should also be exempt from travel-related tests “.
Citizens vaccinated outside the Union
And again: non-EU citizens who intend to travel to member countries, “if they come to Europe with proof of vaccination, they will also be able to have the EU Covid digital certificate and we are asking member states to use the same certificate to allow them to circulate in the EU “. “It would be a shame – added Reynders – to have to ask for another certificate” from non-EU citizens “to have access, for example, to a concert” or to “move around the Union”.
The color map of the ECDC
Reynders recalled that “the past few weeks have led to a continuing downward trend in infection numbers, demonstrating the success of vaccination campaigns across the EU” and that today’s Commission proposal aims to ensure “that Member States coordinate this gradual lifting of restrictions on free movement, taking into account our new common instrument: the EU’s Covid digital certificate. We now expect Member States to make the best use of this tool and the recommendation to allow everyone to circulate. new freely and safely “, he concluded.
But at the same time the commission recalled that “the pandemic is not over”, the variants must be monitored and the measures must be “constantly adapted”. Therefore, the European executive proposes an emergency brake, even for people vaccinated or cured, “if the epidemiological situation deteriorates quickly”.
In particular, the Commission proposes to adopt the division into colored bands according to the ECDC map (European Center for Disease Prevention and Control): for travelers from green areas, there should be no restriction; for travelers from Orange Zones, Member States should require a pre-departure test (antigenic or molecular); For travelers from red zones, Member States could require travelers to undergo quarantine, unless they have a pre-departure test. For dark red areas, non-essential travel should be strongly discouraged and testing and quarantine requirements should remain. Finally, for the areas marked in orange the proposal is to increase the threshold of the cumulative notification rate of Covid 19 cases by 14 days from 50 to 75, while for the red areas to adjust the threshold range from the current 50-150 to new 75-150.
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