The European Union resolved on Monday to retighten its borders to travellers from the United States, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro and North Macedonia due to their worsening Covid-19 situations.

All six had previously been among the handful of places deemed safe enough to be spared the toughest of quarantine and testing requirements for non-essential trips.

But following an agreement among the 27 EU member states, the concerned third countries have been dropped from that list, an EU press release stated on Monday.

However, it remains up to each member state to decide exactly which restrictions it puts on travellers. It is also unclear exactly when the new arrangements will be implemented.

At the outset of the pandemic, all EU countries apart from Ireland prohibited non-essential travel, except for in a few circumstances. Non-EU states Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Iceland also took part in the entry ban.

The ban was slightly eased in July 2020, but only a handful of countries have since made it onto the exemption list. Israel was added in May this year, and the US in June.

Only 17 places – including Japan, New Zealand and Ukraine – remain on the EU safe list, which is reviewed and updated regularly.

DPA

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