Trade unions are calling on the European Commission to rethink its proposal not to place Covid-19 in the highest risk group of biological agents.

The Commission and member states’ experts in the so-called Technical Progress Committee will decide on Thursday whether Covid-19 should be categorised under the Biological Agents Directive, with potential consequences for workplace health and safety and public health.

Currently, the Commission insists Covid-19 does not meet the definition of agents in the highest of four risk categories:

“One that causes severe human disease and is a serious hazard to workers; it may present a high risk of spreading to the community; there is usually no effective prophylaxis or treatment available”.

Instead, the Commission plans to place the disease in a category, which has a weaker definition:

“One that can cause severe human disease and present a serious hazard to workers; it may present a risk of spreading to the community, but there is usually effective prophylaxis or treatment available”.  

Read the full article here.