Amid fears of third wave, EU proposes 'dark red' COVID-19 zones

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According to the new guidelines, non-essential travel will be "strongly discouraged". Michel, president of the European Council, said: "It will be probably necessary to take additional restrictive measures in order to limit the non-essential travels and that is the orientation that we are taking."

“A dark red zone would show that in this zone, the virus is circulating at a very high level,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, adding, "persons travelling from dark red areas could be required to do a test before departure, as well as to undergo quarantine after arrival."

The European Commission president added that from Sunday anybody arriving from outside the EU may have to test for COVID-19 before departure.

During a video conference, EU leaders agreed that there should be common standards for vaccine certificates for medical purposes even as France said it will require a negative PCR test 72 hours before departure for most European arrivals other than those on essential travel.

European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen said that the health situation in Europe was very serious while stressing that countries should not close their borders to ensure functioning of the single market.

The move comes as several regions in Europe are witnessing very high rate of COVID-19 infections with almost all of Europe in the red zone.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that European countries needed to take the new virus variant seriously to avoid a third wave while asserting that border closure cannot be ruled out. EU leaders had earlier agreed that borders should remain open.

Meanwhile, Belgium PM Alexander de Croo said he will ask fellow EU leaders to halt non-essential travel. Belgium's per capita COVID-19 cases is lower than its neighbouring countries.