EU entry restrictions coordinated in response to COVID-19 for visitors from non-member countries

Brussels, (ST) – Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many countries worldwide continue to restrict entry and most travel remains discouraged.

The European Union has tightened restrictions on entry to visitors from non-EU countries, while only permitting citizens of countries with very few cases of coronavirus infection and virtually no infections with the new highly contagious strains of the virus.

Reuters quoted an EU diplomat as saying yesterday that the ambassadors of EU member states agreed on the new procedure for travel from non-member states, including Britain, as the new measure provides for the rapid reinstatement of travel restrictions for countries with a rapid increase in infections with the new strains.

The visitor must be from a country where the number of injuries does not exceed 25 cases per hundred thousand of the population within 14 days, which is less than the rate in any member state of the European Union.

The EU agreement covers non-essential travel and is a guideline for member states that have the final say in the policies with which they operate at their borders.

Some European Union member states imposed tougher measures, while Belgium banned unnecessary travel to and from the country until next March.

Raghda Sawas