Reuters reported on Friday that the European Union had begun the process to remove the United States from the 27-country bloc's 'safe list' of countries, signalling a move to reinstate travel restrictions barring non-essential travel from the US and imposing quarantine and testing on US travellers arriving into the region.
The Reuters report cited commentary from two anonymous diplomats who were not authorised to speak on the issue. The New York Times confirmed the report on Sunday.
The restrictions recommended by the European Council would not be mandatory among EU member states. Each country will have latitude to reimpose whatever restrictions they choose, or none at all. Despite the EU opening travel to US travellers in June, the US has not reciprocated and remains closed to EU travellers.
Countries designated as 'safe' by the EU have maintained infection rates of 75 or less per 100,000 people. The recent surge of the delta variant in the US has pushed number well above that rate to 328 per 100,000, according to Reuters Covid-19 tracker.
