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The other day, EU ambassadors voted on a proposal to classify EU countries according to a uniform set of rules from an epidemiological point of view, and the General Affairs Council agreed today. This means that entry to a state with a green rating that is considered safe cannot be denied. Restrictions may be imposed in the high-risk orange and high-risk red states, but no one can be excluded and regulation cannot be based on nationality. The decision is also important because European aviation is slowly stagnating due to untraceable regulation.
The way is clear
In other words, the road is definitely free of a green country, and entering from orange or red, you can prescribe pleasure or quarantine. The restriction must be fair and proportionate as recommended.
This means that the border closure should expire after the Recommendation enters into force.
This happens as soon as the text appears in its official form, that is, it is promulgated. That is to be expected today. Based on this, the most important question in the case of Hungary is when the border closure will be lifted and what restrictions will come into force for those coming from red and orange countries. We have sent our questions to the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice, and as soon as they are answered, we will update our article.
Classification
One country is in the green zone where, according to a 14-day moving average, the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants is less than 25 per day and less than 4 percent of the tests are positive.
A country is placed in the orange zone where the number of new cases is between 25 and 150 but the positive rate is less than 4 percent, or if the daily amount infected is less than 50 but the positive rate is greater than 4 percent .
A country in the red zone where the number of new infections is higher than 150 with a positive rate below 4 percent or a positive rate above 4 percent with more than 50 new infections daily is placed in the red zone.
If Member States introduce restrictions for red or orange states, they should, if possible, publish them 48 hours before the decision and inform the Union in advance. If a country enters the green zone in the meantime, after two weeks, all states are required to treat it as green.
No one can be discriminated against
It is very important that the restrictions can only apply to that country. That is, you can only examine – and allow or condition – the entry from that country, but not the nationality of the traveler. The border blockade is severely discriminatory in this regard, as it only allows entry to Hungarians and V4 nationals, subject to mandatory testing or quarantine.
The voted recommendation is also important for us Hungarians, because if we return home from a green country, it is also not possible to prescribe an official ten-day quarantine.
This can make a family visit or a planned fall vacation trip much easier. Especially since the recommendation does not restrict organized trips for the following purposes: work, cross-border transfers, business trips, family visits, family events (wedding, baptism, funeral), journalistic work.
The ranking can be followed on a map, which will include Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and, if data comes in, Switzerland, in addition to the Member States. However, the UK is not part of this system, meaning it will apply special rules for travel to and from the US. In accordance with the recommendation, the classification will be prepared by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and will be updated and published weekly.
The question is whether there will be a green country at all.
The proposal was compiled by the German presidency at the beginning of September, when we showed the classification of the states on a map: our country was in a red zone, from which it has not left since. Since then, however, the situation has deteriorated across Europe. This is well illustrated by this index and the fact that 22,000 new infections were documented in Europe each day at the beginning of September, and today 46,000.
Although the union has disrupted the proposal with record speed, it seems very late, or at least almost. At the moment, only a few countries meet the strict criteria and turn out to be green: Cyprus, Norway, Estonia, Finland and Greece. Latvia, Lithuania, and Germany are bordering on green and orange, with just over 50 people infected per 100,000 residents.
Along with Hungary, there are 15 red countries in Europe.
However, it should also be added that the classification should not be broken down by country but by region. So the palette can be a little more colorful. Due to the very high positive rate, Hungary will probably not be able to jump into the green with any of its regions, as this would require a number of infected of less than 25, and that will not join. But in Italy, the toe of the boot, parts of Sweden can turn green. Similarly, the Canary Islands in Spain or Madeira and the Azores in Portugal, which show otherwise extremely poor data, can expect a green rating.
Therefore, the question for the next few days will be when this ECDC will take place with the official classification at the regional level and how the Hungarian regulations will change.
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