European responses to the corona crisis – Part 5 (18 April – 24 April)

During the Coronavirus crises, the European Science-Media Hub is collecting and publishing a regular update of the most relevant releases provided by EU institutions and other European and global actors. 🆕 Last Update : 24 April

on April 20, 2020

coronavirus updates part 5
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April 24, 2020 update

• EU guidance for a safe return to the workplace – The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)has issued today guidance on coming back to work after coronavirus.

• The Coronavirus Global Response – Questions and Answers.

• WTO and IMF Joint Statement – On Trade and the COVID-19 response

• OECD: Outlook on the global economy – Efforts to contain virus and save lives should be intensified, and governments should plan stronger, more co-ordinated measures to absorb growing economic blow.

• BEUC statement – COVID-19 – implications for consumers and BEUC recommendations for policy responses concerning the Single Market, tourism and digitalisation.

• EEAS special report update – Short Assessment of Narratives and Disinformation around the COVID-19/Coronavirus Pandemic

• Graphika report: The COVID-19 “Infodemic” – This report represents a preliminary analysis of data analyzed by Graphika on the global online conversation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic

April 23, 2020 update

• State aid to Netherlands, Poland, Bulgaria and Lithuania : The European Commission approves: Dutch guarantee scheme of up to €10 billion to support the economy in context of coronavirus outbreak, €7.8 billion Polish schemes to support companies affected by the coronavirus outbreak, €150 million Bulgarian scheme to support SMEs affected by coronavirus outbreak, €5 million Lithuanian scheme for SMEs active in road freight transport affected by the coronavirus outbreak

• EP President David Sassoli’ statement following his speech to the European Council – Across Europe, people are struggling to make ends meet. We need a common response immediately.

• UN Secretary General statement – Human rights ‘uplift everyone’; must guide COVID-19 recovery response.

• EIB statement – EIB backs €5 billion investment to mitigate economic impact of coronavirus and support medical technology.

• WHO statement – Invest in the overlooked and unsung: build sustainable people-centred long-term care in the wake of COVID-19.

• BEREC response to EC recommendation on Covid-19 tracing apps – The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications answers to response to the European Commission Recommendation on a common Union toolbox for the use of technology and data to combat and exit from the COVID-19 crisis, in particular concerning mobile applications and the use of anonymised mobility data.

• WEF publication – Why COVID-19 is making utilities more vulnerable to cyberattack – and what to do about it?

• EPRS Briefing – Tackling the coronavirus outbreak: Impact on asylum-seekers in the EU.

April 22, 2020 update

• €3 billion macro-financial assistance package to support ten neighbouring countries – The European Commission proposes a €3 billion macro-financial assistance (MFA) package to ten enlargement and neighbourhood partners to help them to limit the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

• State aid to Poland, Sweden, Netherland – The European Commission approves €110 million Polish loan and guarantee scheme to support the economy in coronavirus outbreak, €38 million Swedish scheme to compensate damages caused by cancelled or postponed cultural events due to coronavirus outbreak, Dutch guarantee scheme of up to €10 billion to support the economy in context of coronavirus outbreak

• ASSOCC: Agent-based Social Simulation of the Coronavirus Crisis – Understanding the effectiveness of containment policy responses to the coronavirus pandemic by social simulation and social reporting.

• EU calls for #smartdevelompenthack – The European Commission, together with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as well as European tech companies, international development agencies and civil society launch a global hackathon (#smartdevelopmenthack) in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.

• Bruegel policy contribution – Racing against COVID-19: a vaccines strategy for Europe – a staged support scheme to tackle the COVID-19 vaccine challenge and a moon shot programme to meet the challenge of future pandemics.

• STOA: Ten technologies to fight coronavirus – This publication of ten central technological trajectories employed in the fight against this pandemic disease offers us an analysis of what is at stake in technological terms word-wide, but also of what legislators may need to do in order to tackle the relevant legal and ethical questions.

April 21, 2020 update

• EU Council: 10 things the EU is doing to fight COVID-19 – During these times of crisis, the EU and its member states are working together and helping each other, mobilising resources, ensuring supply of protective equipment, boosting research and supporting our global partners in need.

• EU Council on COVID-19 impact on sport sector – The impact of COVID-19 on the sport sector is much broader than just cancelling sport events.

• Committee of the Region’s release – We call on all EU institutions and Member States for an ambitious recovery plan for a sustainable, resilient and socially-just Europe, which leaves no places and no people behind.

• IOM Responding to New COVID-19 Outbreak in Greece – The International Organization for Migration is responding to a new outbreak of COVID-19 in an IOM-managed temporary accommodation facility for asylum seekers in Southern Greece after 150 people tested positive for the virus on Monday.

• State aid to Italy, Finland, Slovakia, Estonia – The European Commission approved, €2 billion Finnish public guarantee and subsidised loan scheme to support companies affected by the coronavirus outbreak, €2 billion Slovak employment aid scheme to preserve jobs and support the self-employed during the coronavirus outbreak, €75.5 million Estonian schemes in the form of direct grants and payment advantages to support companies in coronavirus outbreak, €100 million Italian guarantee scheme to support SMEs in the agriculture, forestry, fishery and aquaculture sectors affected by the coronavirus outbreak

• Joint EU / FAO / OCHA / UNICEF / USAID / WFP release – Global Report on Food Crises reveals scope of food crises as COVID-19 poses new risks to vulnerable countries.

• OECD: Covid-19 crisis underscores need to address trade in fake pharmaceuticals – A joint report, Trade in Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Products, and an accompanying brief on links with the Covid-19 crisis, says the trafficking and sale of fake or defective medicines is enriching criminal groups and endangering health while draining away vital industry and tax revenues.

• Facebook: Map of data where people reported coronavirus symptoms – Facebook & Carnegie Mellon University COVID-19 Symptom Map.

April 20, 2020 update

• Facebook: How Data Can Aid the Fight Against COVID-19 – Article by by Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

• Microsoft: Preserving privacy while addressing COVID-19 – Microsoft has joined with national, state and local healthcare authorities and providers, researchers, non-profit organizations and governments around the world on our shared mission to develop solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• ITU-WHO: Unleashing information technology to defeat COVID-19 – The World Health Organization, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with support from UNICEF are set to work with telecommunication companies to text people directly on their mobile phones with vital health messaging to help protect them from COVID-19.

• WIPO: New Search Facility Database to Support COVID-19 Innovation Efforts – The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) today launched a new search functionality for its global patent database, PATENTSCOPE, to facilitate the location and retrieval of information contained in published patent documents that may be useful for innovators developing new technologies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

• State aide to Portugal, Croatia, Hungary, France – The European Commission approved, €140 million Portuguese scheme to support investment in research, development, testing and production of coronavirus relevant products, €4 million Croatian direct grant scheme to support fishery and aquaculture sector in coronavirus outbreak, €88 million Hungarian aid scheme supporting researchers and developers in all sectors affected by coronavirus outbreak, €7 billion French “umbrella” scheme to support the economy in the coronavirus outbreak

• EP release: Emergency measures to help EU farmers and fishermen – The EU has approved emergency measures to help farmers and fishermen affected by the coronavirus pandemic. In order to avoid disruption to food supplies, the EU has taken urgent measures to support food producers.

• EP ECON Committee activities in regard to COVID-19 – The European Parliament and in particularly the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs are at the forefront of the debate, actively partaking in the elaboration of European policies and solutions to prevent a deep and protracted economic crisis and to lay down foundations for the Europe’s long term recovery.

EP Statement on COVID-19

• WHO and WTO joint statement – WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo and World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus are underlining their support for efforts to ensure the normal cross-border flow of vital medical supplies and other goods and services.

• Launch of a European data sharing platform for researchers – The European Commission together with several partners launched a European COVID-19 Data Platform to enable the rapid collection and sharing of available research data.

April 19, 2020 update

• EEAS: The EU’s corona marathon: moving on all tracks – Reflecting on what living with COVID19 means, for our daily lives, for Europe, for the wider world and how it will affect our society.

April 18, 2020 update

• OECD Policy Brief: Testing for COVID-19: A way to lift confinement restrictions – This brief discusses how testing strategies can be used to achieve three main goals: 1) Suppressing the resurgence of local outbreaks; 2) Identifying people who have developed some form of immunity and can safely return to work; and 3) Gaining intelligence on the evolution of the epidemic, including on when a threshold for herd immunity has been reached.

• Current performance of COVID-19 test methods and devices and proposed performance criteria: The European Commission’s working document aims to collect and review publicly available information from manufacturers on commercially available devices for COVID-19 and to review performance assessment studies of test methods and devices for COVID-19 that have been performed by academic institutions, national regulatory agencies, international organisations, health technology assessment (HTA) bodies, reference laboratories, and similar organisations.

Consult older ESMH articles on the European responses to the corona crisis