LONDON — The European Union is about to ban travelers from the United States when it opens its borders again next week because the rate of US coronavirus infection is too high, two EU diplomats said.
The 27-member bloc is reopening for non-essential travel on July 1 and has drawn up a list of countries whose infection levels are low enough to allow their citizens to travel to the countries.
The United States, which has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths and cases in the world, was not in the final draft agreed on Friday by EU ambassadors, according to two EU diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak. publicly about the deliberations.
That list will now go to the governments of EU member states for final confirmation, with likely approval on Saturday or next week. A diplomat said they hoped the list would be approved.
When asked if the United States was on the list, the diplomat replied, “That is a stupid question,” an indication of how far from the EU’s criteria the US coronavirus situation is.
The diplomat said China was among more than a dozen countries on the list, but on the condition that China instead opened its borders to EU travelers.
Although tensions have risen between President Donald Trump and the EU during the pandemic, Europeans said the list was based on dispassionate epidemiological science.
An EU briefing this week had noted that in the previous two weeks, the US had registered 107 new cases per 100,000 people, compared to 16 per 100,000 in the EU
Deaths and hospitalizations have decreased in Europe after the introduction of closure measures, although the World Health Organization has warned of a possible increase in summer across the continent.
The number of infections is rising again in the United States, even as Trump encourages normal life to resume. More than 120,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the US since the pandemic began.
Trump’s frantic relationship with Europe deteriorated in March when he announced extensive travel restrictions without telling any of his EU counterparts first.
Most travelers around the world have been barred from visiting the EU for months unless their travel is deemed essential.
