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The European Union (EU) has officially removed Canada from the list of countries that should not be subject to inbound travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 27-country group released a list of 15 countries for the first time in July, which are considered to have a low risk of the coronavirus transmission in the country. Earlier, Canada was in the first list and survived the first culling of the list in August, when Algeria, Montenegro, Morocco and Serbia were removed.
On Thursday (Oct 22), the European Union has released a new list and removed Canada, Georgia and Tunisia from the list because these three countries have seen a spike in the COVID-19 cases.
“As a result of these discussions, the list of third countries should be amended. In particular, Canada, Georgia and Tunisia should be removed from the list while Singapore should be added,” the EU said.
Apart from Singapore, the new list added other 8 countries that are Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Uruguay and China (subject to confirmation of reciprocity). The EU also stated that restrictions on travels from Hong Kong and Macau should be lifted, as long as those jurisdictions also apply same reliefs to European travelers.
The new list does not mean that Canadian travelers are prohibited from travelling to the European Union, as this is just a guideline followed by member states. However, the European Union still urges countries to abide by the treaty for the benefit of all.
The EU countries consist of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
The EU said that member states should make sure that they are placing coordinated measures at the external borders to ensure the normal operation in the Schengen area, referring to an agreement signed in 1985 in Schengen, Luxembourg to allow 26 European countries to travel freely across borders.
However, the authorities of the member states are still responsible for implementing the content of the recommendations and they can phase out travel restrictions on the listed countries with complete transparency.
