Europe has banned travellers from US, Nigeria and other countries over the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
NewsOne Nigeria reports that the European Union Commission also released a list of 54 countries that qualify for travels into Europe ahead of the planned reopening of its borders to international travellers on July 1 and Nigeria is conspicuously absent.
Citizens from Nigeria, Brazil, Qatar, the US and Russia would not be allowed to travel into Europe until such a time when the epidemiological situation in their countries with regards to COVID-19 improves, a report on schengenvisainfo.com said.
The report said the countries whose citizens have been granted permits into Europe include Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Australia, Bahamas, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canada.
Others listed are Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palau, Paraguay, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Serbia, South Korea, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lebanon and Mauritius.
“The European Union has an internal process to determine from which countries it would be safe to accept travellers,” EU Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said last Thursday, adding that its decisions are “based on health criteria.”
This is coming after the EU commission had on June 11, presented its recommendation on the reopening of internal Schengen borders on June 15, so that Europeans could travel freely within the borderless areas just as they did before the COVID19 pandemic.
While travellers from US have been banned, the report confirmed that citizens of Brazil, Qatar, the US and Russia will only be able to enter Europe at a later date when the epidemiological situation in these countries improves.
Nationals of the following countries are listed in this draft list of countries permitted to enter Europe…