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(CN) — With Covid-19 infections and deaths on the rise in the United States, the European Union on Monday declared that American tourists should not be allowed back into Europe.
It’s an embarrassing development for the U.S., which is struggling to contain its coronavirus outbreak due to the more infectious delta variant and a sluggish rate of vaccination.
The U.S. was among five nations removed from the EU’s safe travel list on Monday. The European Council advised all 27 EU nations to bar Americans from entering the bloc for nonessential travel.
Individual EU nations may follow the council’s recommendation or adopt their own guidelines, such as allowing fully vaccinated Americans to enter their borders. Removal from the safe list could entail people arriving from the U.S. to undergo quarantine and testing requirements.
Since early July, the U.S. has seen a new wave of infections and deaths due to the novel coronavirus. Experts attribute the rise in cases to the spread of the delta strain and a high number of unvaccinated Americans.
The U.S. is reporting more than 147,000 new cases a day, according to data tracked by Worldometer. The number of Covid-19 deaths is spiking too with nearly 1,000 new deaths reported each day.
In June, the EU put the U.S. back on its safe travel list, a move that opened up Europe’s tourism season to Americans, who are valued as big spenders. The pandemic has seriously damaged Europe’s tourism sector.
The U.S., meanwhile, has angered Europeans by keeping its borders closed to nonessential travel from Europe since March 2020.
Besides the U.S., Israel, Lebanon, Kosovo and the Republic of North Macedonia were taken off the safe travel list. The council also recommended that travel restrictions be gradually lifted for a number of other countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Qatar.
To be included on the EU’s safe list, a nation must be registering fewer than 75 new Covid-19 cases each day per 100,000 people over the previous 14 days.
Many EU nations have surpassed the U.S. in vaccinations, where about 52% of people have been fully vaccinated, according to figures from Our World in Data. By comparison, 60% of Italians and Germans have been fully vaccinated.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
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