Brussels. Amid the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union (EU), made an announcement on Friday, after an informal summit stating that it will launch a new search and rescue strategy to avoid a complete shutdown. The transmission rate of COVID-19 has risen sharply and the second wave has deeply affected the whole of EU.

European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, mentioned that “The number of new infections is increasing along with the number of hospital admissions. The death toll is rising too and if we don’t take immediate action, our healthcare systems will be disrupted.”

Leaders of the EU’s 27 member-states agreed, on Thursday, that testing and tracing was important to limit the spread of the virus. It would help to better control the situation but a common approach to mutual recognition, deployment and rapid testing still remained important.

The European Commission has proposed rapid antigen testing, as a complement, to the widely used polymerase chain reaction test. Slovakia, an EU member state, has arranged for 13 million free rapid antigen tests for everyone who falls in the 10 to 65 years old age group.

According to the European Council President, Charles Michel, Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič has agreed to share the results and statistics of the massive testing with other member states. “In fact, interest in rapid testing has grown in many countries,” Michel stated.