Foreign Desk Report
BRUSSELS: European Union leaders were seeking on Thursday to address the coronavirus pandemic’s mounting challenges, including increased calls to limit travel and tighten border controls to contain more infectious variants of the disease.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said before an evening leaders’ video conference that European countries needed to take the new mutation found in Britain seriously to avoid a third wave.
“We can’t rule out border closures, but want to prevent them though cooperation within the European Union,” she told a news conference in Berlin. Leaders, who have full control over their own borders, were discussing testing protocols for cross-border commuters, she added. Alexander De Croo, PM of Belgium, said he would ask fellow EU leaders to halt non-essential travel, such as tourism.
