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(adds details on vaccines, quotes)
By Francesco Guarascio
BRUSSELS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The European Commission
proposed on Wednesday a series of new measures to fight the
COVID-19 pandemic in the European Union, saying the new spike in
infections on the continent was "alarming".
As Europe again becomes the world's epicentre of the
pandemic, the EU executive urged the 27 EU governments to do
more and in a more coordinated fashion to tackle the virus.
"The situation is very serious, but we can still slow down
the spread of the virus if everybody takes (their)
responsibility," European Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen told a news conference.
To better trace the spread of infections, Brussels said EU
governments should coordinate their testing strategies and make
greater use of rapid antigen tests, despite the fact that the
global supply for these kits is now tightening.
It said the "current shortfalls in testing capacity"
required swift action.
Last week, the EU executive said it would direct 100 million
euros ($118 million) to buy up to 22 million antigen tests to
meet EU countries' "immediate needs". It is now urging states to
buy more through a joint procurement scheme.
It also said states should have common testing requirements
for incoming travellers, including tests on arrival if tests
were not available in the country of departure. It called for
coordinated rules on quarantines.
Brussels also urged governments to share more data on
outbreaks in their countries and on the situation in their
healthcare settings.
All national applications that allow the operators to trace
people exposed to the virus should also be made interoperable
across the EU, the Commission said.
AVOIDING SHORTAGES
To avoid risks of new shortages of medical equipment, which
dogged the bloc at the beginning of the pandemic in spring, the
Commission said it had launched joint procurement for gear
needed to inoculate people, such as syringes and disinfectants.
It also extended until April a temporary suspension of
customs duties and sales tax on the import of medical equipment.
EU countries could also exempt COVID-19 testing kits and
vaccines from sales tax, the Commission said.
The Commission repeated its call on EU governments to
quickly devise vaccination strategies so that the most
vulnerable people can quickly access COVID-19 vaccines if and
when effective shots become available.
It said it had already spent in upfront payments about 1
billion euros ($1.2 billion) to secure potential vaccines from
AstraZeneca, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson
. That suggested it had made a downpayment worth 360
million euros to Johnson & Johnson, a figure which it had not
previously revealed.
It said exploratory talks with Moderna, Pfizer
and CureVac involved a further 1.45 billion
euros in upfront payments.
In a move aimed at avoiding further disruptions to the EU
internal market, Brussels proposed fast-tracking checks on EU
internal borders for goods transported by rail, water or air.
Rapid checks were introduced for goods transported by road
after internal trade was disrupted at the start of the pandemic
due to border controls introduced within the border-free
Schengen area to prevent the spread of the virus.
($1 = 0.8461 euros)
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio, editing by
Robin Emmott and Hugh Lawson)
