Food safety, air quality, endocrine disruptors, GMOs, working conditions, the fight against epidemics, drug evaluation: there are many topics on which the EU tries to coordinate the policies of EU member states to protect European citizens' health. In an aging Europe where the burden of chronic diseases is rising, how to ensure good health for all, while encouraging economic progress?
Health
Facing new risks
Spain leads calls for Covid-19 to be treated like flu
Spain is leading calls for governments to start tackling Covid-19 like any other endemic respiratory virus such as seasonal flu, despite WHO opposition and warnings that the approach is premature
Omicron: Mild or severe impact on the global economy?
After limping its way back from the Covid pandemic last year, the global economic recovery has been rattled by the Omicron variant's rapid rise
Omicron less severe but still a threat to health systems
Omicron is causing record numbers of cases around the world, and though it causes less severe Covid-19 experts warn this wave still threatens to overwhelm health systems
Health first, freedom second? How Covid is changing democracies
From lockdowns to mandatory mask-wearing and Covid passes to access certain venues, the pandemic has led to sweeping restrictions on civil liberties in some of the world's oldest democracies
Europe’s bizarre rules for Covid vaccine passes
Pig slaughter parties, midnight dancing and going to a petrol station are just some of the events where Europeans are required to show either their vaccination status, a negative test or evidence of having had Covid
More contagious, less severe: What we know about Omicron
A month after it was first detected in southern Africa, Omicron is now known to be far more contagious than previous variants of Covid-19 but appears to cause a less severe illness than its predecessors