Monday’s announcement by the European Council amounts to a recommendation to the bloc’s 27 member states, which technically retain sovereignty over their own borders. It reverses the June recommendation to ease restrictions on US travelers.
BREAKING: The European Union has taken the United States off its safe travel list due to rising coronavirus infections and has recommended reinstating restrictions on U.S. travelers. https://t.co/71pAM4dGSo
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 30, 2021
The EC updates its travel recommendations every two weeks, based on Covid-19 infection levels. To be considered “safe” a country needs to have no more than 75 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the 14-day period.
According to AP, the US averaged 152,000 new Covid-19 cases per day last week, on par with numbers from late January.
Read More: EU removes US from safe-travel list due to Covid-19 case surge
