WASHINGTON, June 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The European Union (EU) plans to bar travellers from the United States and some other countries where the COVID-19 outbreak has not been effectively controlled, as the bloc will reopen in July, U.S. media reported.
After several rounds of negotiation in recent weeks, EU senior diplomats in Brussels come up with a final list of safe countries from which travellers are welcomed to the bloc, a U.S. media outlet reported.
As the U.S. registered the most COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, it is “highly unlikely” to be included in the final list, the newspaper said.
The exclusion of the U.S., an important source of tourism to the EU, “represented a stinging rebuke” to the U.S. administration’s management of the pandemic, the report said.
The 27-member bloc plans to reopen on July 1, after months of lock-down, according to the report.
Russia is also among dozens of other countries that are considered by the EU diplomats as too risky.
Countries on the safe list were judged on their infection rates and the credibility of their reporting data, among other criteria.– NNN-AGENCIES
