No EU Country Should Deny Entry to Bloc's Citizens Despite COVID-19 - Von Der Leyen

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2020) No European Union citizen should be denied entry to another nation in the bloc, the European Commission's president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Friday, adding that member states should use testing and quarantine measures to contain the coronavirus disease outbreak.

"We believe that no EU citizen should be denied entry to another EU country. Instead, we recommend governments to use testing or quarantine. Testing should be the preferred option to make it easier for people to travel," von der Leyen said in a video that was published by the European Commission.

The commission has proposed establishing a single set of rules that will govern travel throughout the bloc amid the ongoing pandemic, von der Leyen added.

"It is indeed very important to try to limit the spread of the virus.

But citizens are often left confused about where they can travel, which rules they have to respect on the way, what must they do on arrival to stay safe, and as many citizens have experienced, these rules change very often. So we need to ensure more clarity and predictability," the European Commission president said.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) will publish a weekly color-coded map to identify COVID-19 hotspots within the bloc, von der Leyen added.

Since the start of the outbreak, the ECDC has registered more than 2.3 million cases of COVID-19 in the EU, countries of the European Economic Area, and the United Kingdom.

According to data published by the public health body on Friday, more than 26,500 new positive tests for the disease were recorded over the past 24 hours.