Back page gossip from the 27 May issue of Research Europe
Not out of the woods
With Covid-19 cases and deaths now falling globally, the lifting of social restrictions continues apace. On 20 May, member state governments in the Council of the EU recommended lifting bans on travel into the bloc, saying the maximum case rate in countries from which non-essential travel is allowed should be raised from 25 to 75 cases per 100,000 people, and that vaccination coverage should also be taken into account. But, on the same day that the recommendation was adopted, Hans Kluge, World Health Organization regional director for Europe, warned that “progress is fragile”.