Mr. Filip Cornelis:

I thank Deputy O'Rourke. On the existing testing protocols, I am not a medical expert so I will not give any definitive answer. I can tell the Deputy that the work undertaken by EASA and ECDC will include advice on which types of test could be recommended in which circumstances, how many tests, at which phase of the journey, and what risk mitigation can be provided by this or that test, or this or that sequence of tests. I am aware that in a number of member states some airports are providing testing facilities, including rapid antigen tests. I believe they are mostly pilot projects and test projects. It is clear that we need a common approach to this because we need mutual recognition. There is no point putting in place testing facilities if the destination country will not recognise the tests undertaken by the person travelling. This goes back to the point that travellers need to know the rules in their home country and their destination country, and they need to be assured that by the time they come back, the rules will still be the same.

On subnational information, the famous colour-coded map is published by the ECDC. It is on its website. It is intended to have subnational information but the ECDC depends on the input received from member states for that information. There may be differences across Europe.

I have no specific information on the question on borders with third countries. I would need to investigate that further. Of course, we have the recommendation on travel to third countries, which was adopted before the summer. This is a list of countries that is regularly updated. Switzerland may be a special case because it is part of the Schengen area system.