BRUSSELS, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- To avoid a full lockdown amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union (EU) is pinning its hope on introducing new testing and tracing strategies, results from an informal EU summit showed on Thursday.
The pan-Europe bloc has found itself deep in the second wave, recording rapid increase in COVID-19 infections.
"Numbers of cases are rising. Numbers of hospitalization are rising. Numbers of death are rising ... the spread of the virus will overwhelm our health care systems if we do not act urgently," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned at a press conference following the summit.
The leaders of the 27 EU member states agreed late Thursday that testing and tracing are key to limiting the spread of the virus and will help better control the situation, but a common approach to the mutual recognition, deployment and use of rapid tests has yet to be found, said a press release from the Council of the EU.
On Wednesday, the European Commission proposed to validate rapid antigen testing as a supplement to the widely-used polymerase chain reaction testing. The heads of state or government Thursday agreed to work on the basis of this recommendation.
Slovakia, one of the EU member states, has reportedly acquired 13 million rapid antigen tests for the free-of-charge testing of everyone aged 10-65, becoming the first EU country to take the trial.
European Council President Charles Michel said that Slovakian Prime Minister Igor Matovic agreed to share the results and data of the massive testing with other member states. "Indeed in many countries, there is an interest for the rapid test," said Michel.
So far, 22 member countries have developed or are developing a contact tracing mobile application, three of which are already connected to a EU-level common gateway for interoperability between the member states, said von der Leyen. The rest are believed to join ranks soon within next month.
Plans for a common Passenger Locator Form and the possibility of harmonizing the duration of quarantines were also discussed during the video summit.
Reviewing the EU-wide resurgence of the pandemic, both Michel and von der Leyen acknowledged that the containment measures were lifted too rapidly after the first wave was largely under control in the summer. Learning the lessons, they highlighted the need for caution.
"We shouldn't make the mistake of pitting healthcare against the economy," said Michel, calling upon the EU states to do "everything we can to protect the health of our citizens and be fully mobilized to limit the spread of the virus."
"The best way to support the economy and society is to succeed in the weeks and months to come in keeping the virus under control as much as possible," he said, adding that only then can economic activities be resumed in a way that benefits European citizens.
