The European Union (EU) has decided that from July, its borders will be reopened to citizens from a draft list of 54 countries barring Pakistan out of it.
The countries that made it to the list are — Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Australia, Bahamas, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mauritius, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palau, Paraguay, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Serbia, South Korea, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zambia.
China is on the list, but subject to a reciprocal agreement, still pending.
The unanimous decision by the European Council is not legally binding, so states can choose not to open up to all those countries.
EU officials say the decision was based on a number of scientific factors like ensuring that the Covid-19 infection rate in the country was low enough (where nations had fewer than 16 in every 100,000 infected), that there was a downward trend of cases and that social distancing measures were at “a sufficient level”.
Citizens of Brazil, Qatar, the US and Russia will only be able to enter Europe at a later date once their cases subside. In March, when cases were rising in Europe, US President Donald Trump had banned most EU citizens from entering the United States in a bid to curb the outbreak there.
Earlier this month, the European Commission recommended that the bloc gradually reopen its borders to non-EU travellers from July.
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