EU Draws Up First List Of Countries Allowed To Enter

With the European Union slowly deciding to open up its borders for international travel, diplomats have said that there will most likely be a ban on travellers from the United States. The criteria for entry takes into account a number of parameters, the most important of which is the number of cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days. Currently, USA has been the worst affected by the virus with over 2.4 million infections and about 125,000 deaths. Under such circumstances, it has been decided that USA will be excluded from the list of countries allowed to enter the EU. 

The European Commission officials have been coordinating with member states in order to draw up a list of countries from where visitors would be acceptable. Questions have been raised over the reliability and effectiveness of testing across countries and EU diplomats have assured that there is no political agenda behind such decisions. As of now, 14 countries have been allowed into EU but the list will constantly be reviewed and upgraded every two weeks.

These countries include Australia, Japan, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand and Thailand, among others. Countries with a high infection rate like India have also not been included in this first list.

While the list started with 54 countries, it has been narrowed down to its present number after a lot of deliberations, thereby indicating that numbers on the list may continue to fluctuate depending on the progress of the virus.