The European Commission has proposed a plan to classify countries by their coronavirus infection levels, with Sweden set to go into the highest category of Chinese virus cases per capita.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) will create risk maps, which will be colour coded to represent the risk of infection. Countries with more than 500 new cases per 100,000 in the last two weeks will be given the most severe ‘dark red’ rating.
Sweden has seen 669 cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks. It will join countries including the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, and Malta in the most severe risk category, Swedish newspaper Goteborgs-Posten reports.
Nearly all of the countries within the European Union will be a shade of red on the map, with the exceptions of Greece and Finland, where cases are presently lower than 100 per 100,000 residents.
The European Commission has recommended that member states should base any travel restrictions on the situation within their country and not just national borders. The ultimate decision on restrictions will, however, be left to the states themselves.
The EU is also looking to restrict travel into the European Union, as well. Commissioner Ylva Johansson stated: “Don’t come here – unless it’s really necessary. Our primary piece of advice is: ‘Don’t travel.'”
Some member states, such as Germany, have already begun restoring border controls with high-risk countries such as the Czech Republic, which had the second-highest number of infections per 100,000 in the last two weeks.
On Sunday, lines of hundreds of vehicles formed on the border between Germany and the Czech Republic as Germany now requires travellers to show negative coronavirus test results every time they enter.
Last week, the ECDC warned that the EU could face a third wave of infections due to the spread of mutated strains of the virus from the UK, South Africa, and Brazil.