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EU mulls banning American travelers as Covid-19 outbreak situation continues to worsen in the US

The regional bloc came up with the idea three months after President Donald Trump banned European travelers from entering the US
UPDATED JUN 24, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

It's been almost three months since President Donald Trump put a travel ban on several European countries after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a pandemic and now, the European Union (EU) is considering a reciprocation. The regional body is mulling whether to ban travelers from America because of the severity of the coronavirus outbreak in the US, which is the worst-affected nation with more than 2.3M people testing positive and over 121,000 dead. 

According to The New York Times, European officials are in the middle of drafting lists to determine who all can set foot in the bloc starting July 1 based on how nations are doing with their current coronavirus cases. "European Union countries rushing to revive their economies and reopen their borders after months of coronavirus restrictions are prepared to block Americans from entering because the United States has failed to control the scourge, according to draft lists of acceptable travelers," the NYT, which reviewed the lists, said.

'Stinging Blow' to US prestige

The report said the move was a "stinging blow" to the US' prestige in the world and "repudiation of President Trump’s handling of the virus". The US would find itself in the same category as Brazil (1.1M affected and more than 52,000 dead) and Russia (nearly 600,000 infected and over 8,000 dead). 

The destination board shows canceled flights to America and Israel at Frankfurt Airport on March 12, 2020, in Frankfurt, Germany, after President Donald Trump announced a ban on travelers from Europe (Getty Images)

India occupies the fourth position with over 440,000 infections and over 14,000 deaths. The UK is the worst-hit European nation with over 300,000 infected and 43,000 dead. Spain, with over 246,000 infected and more than 28,000 deaths, and Italy with more than 238,000 infected 34,000-plus dead had an initial spike but are now at the eighth and ninth positions, respectively.

According to one EU diplomat, the bloc’s executive commission has come up with three criteria for allowing people from other countries, including the epidemical situation there. 
"There's no list (of countries), just a list of criteria," another EU diplomat told Reuters. He said the member-states were considering the criterion of seeing a country’s rate of infection per 100,000 people to decide whether to allow in passengers but were yet to arrive at a final decision. Factors influencing the reliability of the data, including a country’s testing capacity for Covid-19, would also be taken into account.

There was no immediate reaction from the White House.

Earlier in June, the European Commission recommended the bloc to gradually reopen its borders to non-EU travelers starting July and decide on the visitors on the basis of three criteria. These criteria included those nations having Covid-19 under at least as much control as the EU’s average, have containment measures during travel and be willing to allow EU visitors in their territories. The EU states were set to discuss the criteria on Wednesday, June 24. 

It may be mentioned here that Trump's decision to ban travelers from the EU three months ago irked the EU officials. The US at that time had roughly 1,100 coronavirus cases and 38 deaths. The US appeared to have kept the virus outbreak in check for many weeks in May but its overall cases rose by 25 percent last week, a Reuters analysis said. States like Texas, Arizona and Nevada along with many others have been witnessing a surge after the authorities decided to reopen the economy gradually.

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