The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has published new weekly maps of the current coronavirus situation in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, urging Member States to impose / remove entry restrictions.
Due to the growing number of COVID-19 cases in Europe, the new maps suggest that more travel restrictions should be introduced between Member States, as more and more countries turn red from yellow.
According to these cards, in France only the Central region remains yellow, while three other regions, which were also yellow last week – Brittany, Upper France and Burgundy-Franche-Comté – have turned red.
On the other hand, the regions of Midi-Pyrénées, Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur remain dark red, in which category they have been placed in updated maps in recent weeks on 5 August.
In Sweden, the regions of Lapland, Norrbotten and Västerbotten have changed color from yellow to red. The Uppaland region remains red, while the rest of the country is still yellow.
The Lithuanian region of Vilnius has also turned from yellow to red. In Norway, the situation has also worsened as the counties of Viken and Nurland have turned from green to yellow.
Changes in the current situation with COVID-19 have taken place in other EU countries. Romania is now mostly yellow, while last week it was completely green. Italy also has more red regions, while some parts of the Netherlands have turned from red to yellow.
The situation remains bad in Spain, which is mostly dark red. The only region that has changed colors in Spain compared to last week is Mercia, whose color has changed from dark red to red.
Data published by the World Health Organization show that over the past 24 hours, some of the above-mentioned countries have reported so many new cases of COVID-19:
France – 24,236
Greece – 4614
Italy – 5624
Spain – 8,001
Sweden – 1,461
The common maps were initiated and agreed by the Council of the European Union in an effort to preserve the bloc’s freedom of movement in the EU. With these maps, countries intend to make it easier for Member States to coordinate restrictions on free movement in response to COVID-19.