EU removes Argentina, Australia and Canada from ‘safe’ Covid travel list

The European Union has removed Argentina, Australia and Canada from the list of countries where it recommends the lifting of Covid-19 travel restrictions.

In its latest update, the EU Council has removed these three countries from its list of “safe” destinations, which also saw another 14 countries added to the list. The changes were implemented on 17 January.

Argentina, Australia and Canada are all being removed from the EU list due to fast-rising Covid infections caused by the spread of the Omicron variant of the virus.

In a more positive move, EU countries are being advised to “gradually” lift travel restrictions to the following countries: Bahrain, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Kuwait, New Zealand, Peru, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.

China is included on the list but this is subject to reciprocal arrangements, while the EU added that travel restrictions should also be lifted to the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

Each EU member state can decide on its own individual border policies and restrictions when it comes to people travelling from “third” countries outside the EU.

The EU’s list of countries where restrictions should be lifted is reviewed and updated every two weeks.