European Union reinstates restrictions on US travelers
Coronavirus deaths in the US have been more than 1,200 a day for several days, seven times more than in early July
The European Union has removed the United States of America from its safe travel list and no longer recommends non-essential travel. The reason was because the US has been facing an increase in coronavirus cases, and because of the high levels of infection, EU diplomats recommend to their 27 countries that they reinstate restrictions on US tourists.
The guidance is to reverse advice given in June, when the bloc recommended lifting restrictions on US travelers, putting them on a safe list of countries for non-essential travel ahead of the summer tourist season.
Coronavirus deaths in the US have been more than 1,200 a day for several days, seven times more than in early July.
However, the decision may be non-binding. National governments have autonomy to decide whether their borders will remain open or be closed to tourists, as the EU does not have a unified Covid-19 tourism policy.
Restrictions can include quarantines, additional testing on arrival, and even a complete ban on non-essential travel to the US.
Meanwhile, the US country has not reopened its borders to tourists from the European bloc, despite EU calls for the Joe Biden government to lift the ban.
The European Council has criteria regarding infection levels to list countries that have restrictions. This list is revised every two weeks, considering that the country has no more than 75 new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 population in the last 14 days.
New coronavirus cases in the United States averaged more than 152,000 per day, returning to what was seen in late January, and the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized was about 85,000, a number not seen since the beginning of February. The US faces it’s fourth wave of Covid-19, driven by the highly contagious delta variant.
