Shortly after the European Commission proposed new rules for travel within the EU, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported that the continent’s COVID-19 situation is worse than ever.
Yesterday, the Commission proposed to allow all individuals with a vaccination certificate eligible for the EU’s COVID-19 digital pass, or any other equivalent document showing that its owner has been vaccinated with one of the vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), to travel block without observing additional rules.
In addition, to facilitate travel, WHO has recommended that Member States introduce harmonized rules based on travelers’ vaccination status.
However, despite these recommendations, it is unclear if citizens of the EU and non-EU countries will be able to travel soon without being exposed to the virus, as the COVID-19 situation has deteriorated significantly.
According to the latest map update, which was published in support of the Council’s Recommendation on a Coordinated Approach to Travel Rules, all EU member states have seen an increase in infection rates over the past seven days.
For this reason, the ECDC encouraged everyone, especially the unvaccinated and unvaccinated, to refrain from unnecessary travel for the time being.
According to data provided by the European Health Agency, most EU member states are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, half of Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Ireland, Iceland, Poland, Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Greece, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Slovakia – are currently on the dark red list.
This classification was made after all these countries had more than 500 cases of coronavirus infection per 100,000 inhabitants, and the rate of positive tests in the past two weeks has exceeded four percent.
World Health Organization (WHO) data showed that of all EU member states, Poland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Belgium recorded the highest incidence rates.
Over the past seven days, 154,317 new infections have been reported in Poland. During the same period, the Netherlands reported 156,921 cases, followed by the Czech Republic with 117,409 cases and Belgium with 85,308 cases.
In this regard, taking into account that the number of cases of infection is growing every day, the Agency strongly recommends that everyone refrain from traveling during this period. Those who need to travel are advised to exercise caution and carry the necessary documents with them at all times.
In addition to the aforementioned countries, Spain, Portugal and France have also reported an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. Until now, these countries have been the safest travel destinations. However, due to the new wave of COVID-19, these regions have also suffered.
However, travel to one of these three territories is not as strongly discouraged as travel to dark red-listed areas, provided travelers meet the entry requirements of the destination country.