EU countries agree to a ‘traffic light’ system of international Covid-19 travel restrictions

THE EU MEMBER STATES have agreed to a new system of “traffic lights” to coordinate international Covid-19 travel restrictions across the continent.

Ministers from the 27 countries agreed on the new guidelines at a meeting in Luxembourg today, putting in place a common mapping system to define areas within the EU considered at different levels of risk from the virus.

Under the plan, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control will publish a weekly map of the EU using a three-stage color system to indicate the level of risk in each area.

The levels will be determined by a variety of epidemiological factors, including the incidence of 14 days per 100,000 population and the level of positive tests.

A fourth color, gray, will be assigned to areas with insufficient data.

Travelers coming from red, orange or gray zones may be required to quarantine or take a Covid-19 test upon arrival in a country, while those coming from a green zone would face no action.

EU countries could not deny entry to people from other member states, as Hungary is currently doing, with exceptions for Czechs, Poles, and Slovaks.

The plans also include exceptions for people doing “essential” jobs, as well as a common contact tracing form for travelers. However, the new recommendations are not binding on member states.

The move could complement Ireland’s so-called Green List, announced in July, which provides a list of countries to and from which people can travel without advice to restrict their movements for 14 days thereafter.

However, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said last month that the proposal was still “a bit up in the air” at the time.

He said that when the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, first suggested the idea, it would give a “green light” to countries that had a “virus incidence of 25 per 100,000 for 14 days, and a positivity rate less than 2% “.

Currently, no country has a 14-day incidence of 25 or less per 100,000 inhabitants.

France welcomed the decision, but Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, who abstained from the vote, said the text of the agreement was not yet finalized.

In a statement, Ryanair welcomed the new system and called on Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to fully adopt it to allow higher levels of air travel to and from Ireland to resume.

With report by © AFP 2020.