EU Closer to Bar Trips from US Where Coronavirus Is Surging

By Staff, Agencies

The European Union is on the verge of barring travelers from the United States when it opens its borders again next week because the US coronavirus infection rate is too high, two EU diplomats said.

The 27-member bloc is reopening to non-essential travel July 1 and has drawn up a list of countries whose infection levels are low enough to allow their citizens to travel into the countries.

However, the US, which has the most COVID-19 deaths and cases in the world, wasn't on the final draft agreed by EU ambassadors Friday, according to two EU diplomats, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about the deliberations.

That list will now go to the governments of EU member states for final confirmation, with a sign-off likely Saturday or next week. One diplomat said they expected the list to be approved, according to NBC News.

Asked whether the US was on the list, the diplomat replied, "That's a stupid question" — an indication of how far outside the EU's criteria the US coronavirus situation is.

The diplomat said that China was among more than a dozen countries that are on the list, but on the condition that China opened its borders to travelers from the EU in return.

Though tensions have grown between US President Donald Trump and the EU during the pandemic, the Europeans said the list was based on dispassionate epidemiological science.

An EU briefing this week had noted that in the previous two weeks the US had registered 107 new cases per 100,000 people, compared with 16 per 100,000 in the EU.

Deaths and hospitalizations decreased in Europe after the introduction of lockdown measures, although the World Health Organization warned of a possible summer spike across the continent.

Meanwhile, the number of infections is again increasing across the United States even as Trump encourages normal life to resume. More than 120,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the US since the pandemic began.

Trump's fractious relationship with Europe deteriorated in March when he announced sweeping travel restrictions without telling any of his EU counterparts first.

Most travelers around the world have been prevented from visiting the EU for months unless their trip is deemed essential.