EU reinstates inbound US travel restrictions
The EU confirmed that ‘following a review’ it had removed the US from its safe list of countries.
It recommends non-essential travel should be blocked as the rate of infection across the US has surged to more than 300 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000.
This is way higher than the EU’s ‘safe’ rate of infections of 75 per 100,000.
There is also frustration from EU officials that the US refused to reciprocate when the EU relaxed travel rules for Americans this summer.
The proposed ban on non-essential travel is non-binding, which allows individual EU states to decide if they implement it or not.
"This is without prejudice to the possibility for member states to lift the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU for fully vaccinated travellers," the EU Council said.
"It’s a setback despite the uptake in vaccinations – the tool that’s highly effective against the variants which are on the rise on both sides of the Atlantic," tthe US Travel Association said.
The US is removed from the safe list along with Kosovo, Israel, Montenegro, Lebanon and North Macedonia.
The Delta variant has raged across the US with states like Florida especially hard hit, despite near record levels of out of state tourist arrivals.
The Sunshine State has the highest Covid-19 hospitalization rate in the country.
About 52% of the US population is fully vaccinated according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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