Baltic 'travel bubble' offers hope for Europe

VILNIUS/RIGA/TALLINN－Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia opened their borders to each other on Friday, creating the first "travel bubble" within the European Union in a bid to jump-start economies broken down by the coronavirus pandemic.

A dozen Estonian border guards removed all signs directing vehicles to stop at the border and huddled together at the roadside for cake and coffee.

"We have the little celebration because the border is now open again", officer Martin Maestule said just after midnight as the first cars sped through on the reopened main road of the region.

Citizens and residents of the three generally sparsely populated Baltic nations are now free to travel within the region, though anyone entering from outside will need to self-isolate for 14 days.

"The Baltic travel bubble is an opportunity for businesses to reopen, and a glimmer of hope for the people that life is getting back to normal," Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said.

The Baltic neighbors opened as the European Union's executive seeks to coax the 27 member states to reopen internal borders and restart wider travel, albeit with safety measures such as requiring people to wear face masks on airplanes.

Coronavirus infections in the three Baltic republics have slowed to a trickle, with none of the countries reporting more than seven new cases on Wednesday. Authorities have loosened lockdowns since late April.

The region as a whole has recorded fewer than 150 deaths from the disease－far below the individual tallies of larger eurozone countries such as Italy, Spain, France or Germany.

"The Baltic states are close partners, have a similar epidemiological situation and their economies are well integrated, so the free movement of people as well as goods is very important for the region," said Arnoldas Pranckevicius, the European Commission representative in Lithuania. "Opening the borders is up to the member states, and the European Commission expects them to talk to each other, to coordinate their actions and to not discriminate against nationals of other EU members."

Free testing in Moscow

In neighboring Russia, Moscow on Friday began free coronavirus testing for all residents. Under the program announced by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, tests for coronavirus antibodies, a marker of infection, will be conducted at 30 clinics throughout the city.

The program will allow officials "to know precisely how many Muscovites had coronavirus and developed immunity, how many people are infected or are suspected to have coronavirus", the mayor said in a blog post on Thursday.

Moscow, with a population of nearly 12 million, accounts for half of the country's reported infections.

Russian health authorities on Friday reported 10,598 new confirmed cases, pushing its nationwide case tally to 262,843. Russia's coronavirus taskforce said 113 people had died over the 24 hours to Friday morning, bringing the official death toll from the virus to 2,418.

As India on Friday prepares to enter the fourth phase of a lockdown from May 18, the country's COVID-19 cases continue to rise, surpassing the 80,000 mark.

A stimulus package of about $267 billion was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this past week to boost the economy, which had come to a standstill with almost all manufacturing activities coming to a halt and supply chains of many essential commodities broken.

In Latin America, Brazil and Mexico on Thursday reported a record one-day rise in new cases, just as leaders of both countries intensified attempts to reopen their economies even as the spread of the virus in Latin America is seemingly gathering pace.

Brazil, the hardest-hit country in Latin America, registered a daily record of 13,944 new cases, bringing its total to 202,918 confirmed cases of the virus and 13,933 deaths since the outbreak began, according to health ministry data.

Mexico, the second-most impacted nation in the region, reported 2,409 new infections on Thursday, to bring its total confirmed cases to 42,595. An additional 257 coronavirus deaths brought total fatalities to 4,477.

Xinhua - Agencies