EU Agrees To Open The Door For Tourists Who Have Received COVID-19 Vaccination

JAKARTA - The European Union agreed to relax COVID-19 travel restrictions for visitors from outside the region, Wednesday, May 19. Under the condition that they have received the COVID-19 vaccine.

The agreement was drawn ahead of this summer, when regular tourists visit countries in the European Union, after being closed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is also an advantage for citizens of Britain and the United States who have been vaccinated, because they can enjoy summer vacations in some of Europe's favorite holiday destinations.

"The ambassadors of the 27 EU countries approved the European Commission's proposal starting May 3, to relax the criteria for determining a 'safe' country and allow fully vaccinated tourists from elsewhere," an EU source said.

EU countries are expected to create the safe lists this week or early next week. Based on data from the European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the UK and a number of other countries will meet the new criteria.

An EU diplomat said the case of the India variant in Britain needed to be considered, even though each EU country had its own policies. Like Portugal, which lifted travel restrictions for British tourists on Monday this week.

Under the current restrictions, only people from seven countries, including Australia, Israel, and Singapore, can enter the European Union on holidays, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated. Individual countries can and will still be able to choose to demand a negative COVID-19 test or a period of quarantine.

The main criterion at the moment is that there must be no more than 25 new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people in the previous 14 days. The trend must be steady or downward and there must be an adequate number of tests, which need to show a minimum percentage of negative tests. Variants of concern are taken into account.

The Commission proposes to raise the case rate to 100. EU ambassadors voted 75. For inoculated people to gain access, they must have received an EU-approved vaccine, with the World Health Organization's (WHO) emergency list under consideration.

These people should have received the final dose at least 14 days before travel. Under the plan, EU countries that ignore testing or quarantine requirements for vaccinated EU tourists are encouraged to do the same for vaccinated non-EU tourists. Children must also be able to travel with their vaccinated parents.

Emergency brakes can be used temporarily to suspend all travel, except essential travel from certain countries to limit the risk of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus entering the European Union. This has been proposed for India.

For information, the European Union's plan includes countries in the border-free Schengen area, including Iceland which is not a member of the European Union, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.