Two officials within the European Union institutions have confirmed for Reuters that the EU Council will on Monday announce its decision to remove from the list of epidemiologically safe third countries a total of six countries, including the United States.
The removal from the list means that the Member States are advised to reimpose the entry ban on travellers from these countries so that the same are no longer eligible to enter restriction-free for non-essential purposes like tourism and business.
According to Reuters, the decision on reimposing the entry ban on US travellers has been taken on Friday, August 27, but it will be officially announced only on Monday, August 30. The complete list of the countries affected goes as follows:
- Israel
- Kosovo
- Lebanon
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
- United States
All six have recently reported an increasing number of Coronavirus cases detected within their territory.
In the US, which is home to 328.2 million residents, a total of 38,158,495 cases have been detected since the beginning of the pandemic, 169,512 of which within the last 24 hours, data by the World Health Organization reveals.
Whereas Israel, which has so far vaccinated about 80 per cent of its 9.053 million population, has recorded 8,078 cases within the last 24 hours, bringing the number of infected persons since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,031,810.
Due to the increase in the number of cases, SchengenVisaInfo.com had reported for days now that the entry ban on Americans travelling to the EU for non-essential purposes would be brought back.
The EU’s list of epidemiologically safe third-countries is a list of non-EU/EEA countries that are considered safe amid the Coronavirus pandemic due to the low rates of infections, and the Member States are advised to reopen the borders for non-essential travellers from these areas.
The list is reviewed every fortnight, and the Member States are not legally bound in applying it. The residents of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican, on the other hand, are considered EU residents for the purpose of this recommendation.
The first list was published on June 30, 2020, while the last time it was reviewed was on July 15, 2021, when Ukraine was added to it.
Currently, it consists of the following 23 countries: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan
Bosnia and Hercegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Montenegro, New Zealand, Qatar, Moldova, North Macedonia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Ukraine, United States of America, as well as China, which is still subject to confirmation of reciprocity.
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