Canada is one of 14 countries that will be granted permission to travel to EU countries, but the US has been left off the list as it experienced a spike in new cases in several states.
The United States’, current infection rate does not meet the criteria set by the EU for it to be considered a “safe country.” The 14 countries beyond the EU borders borders that will be allowed to travel to the EU for business or leisure include Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.
Countries must also have a “stable or decreasing trend of new cases over this period in comparison to the previous 14 days,” while the EU will consider what measures countries are taking, such as contact tracing, and how reliable each nation’s data is.
The U.S. has not only the highest number of reported coronavirus infections of any nation, currently 2,590,582, but also the highest number of deaths, at 126,141, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. The European Union list is expected to be reviewed every two weeks, however, EU diplomats were eager to stress on Tuesday that it was “highly unlikely” the criteria for inclusion would be altered. This means U.S. infection rates will need to dramatically drop if Americans are to be allowed entry to European countries, just as the European tourism industry enters what are traditionally its peak months
Leave a comment