The official EU coronavirus ‘safe travel list'

The European Union Member States have finally approved a list of 14 countries, considered as epidemiologically safe, after days of discussions and disagreements.

As of July 1, residents of Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay, will be permitted to enter Europe.

The US, Russia, Brazil and Turkey have not been included because their coronavirus infection rates are deemed worse than the EU average.

China has been allowed to enter the EU, but pending reciprocity, meaning when China will allow EU countries to enter their country.

However, travellers from the above listed countries must first check with the EU country they wish to visit, as the Member States are permitted to exclude some of the countries from the list when it comes to who can enter their borders since the policy is not legally binding.

The ‘safe list’ will be reviewed every two weeks and adjusted depending on the latest coronavirus developments in each country.

The agreement comes three months after the EU closed its external borders to all non-essential travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It must be noted that Australian citizens and residents are currently banned from travelling overseas without an exemption.