Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
EU officials narrow down border list
U.S. unlikely to make cut as Europe reopens
BRUSSELS — European Union envoys are close to finalizing a list of countries whose citizens will be allowed to enter Europe again, possibly from late next week, EU diplomats confirmed Saturday. Americans are almost certain to be excluded in the short term because of the number of U.S. coronavirus cases.
The envoys were expected to have narrowed down later Saturday the criteria for countries to make the list, which include the way the spread of the virus is being managed. Another key condition is whether the country has a ban on citizens from European nations.
The number of cases in the United States has surged over the past week, with an all-time high of 45,300 confirmed new daily infections just reached. And President Donald Trump suspended the entry of all people from Europe’s ID check-free travel zone in a decree in March.
The EU diplomats confirmed that an official agreement on the criteria — likely to include a limit on the infection rate per 100,000 citizens — is expected late Monday or early Tuesday. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the procedure is ongoing and politically sensitive.
Infection rates are high in Brazil, India and Russia, and it’s unlikely the EU will let their citizens in. The list would be updated every 14 days, with new countries added and some possibly being left off based on how they manage the spread of the virus.
More than 15 million Americans are estimated to travel to Europe annually, and any delay would be a blow to virus-ravaged economies and tourism sectors, both in Europe and the United States. Around 10 million Europeans are thought to cross the Atlantic for vacations and business each year.
The 27 EU nations and four other countries that are part of Europe’s “Schengen area” — a 26-nation bloc where goods and people move freely without document checks — appear on track to reopen their borders between each other by July 1.
After that happens, restrictions on nonessential travel to Europe, which were imposed in March to halt new virus cases from entering, would be lifted.
On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo played down concerns that the EU might refuse to allow Americans in.
“We’ve denied travel to Europe and vice versa. That’s the posture that we all sit in now, and I think we’re all taking seriously the need to figure out how to get this up,”
Pompeo said. “We’ll work to get this right. We want to make sure that it’s health-based, science-based.”
“We need to get our global economy back going again,” he said. In other developments:
■ India’s confirmed coronavirus cases crossed half a million Saturday with another record 24-hour jump of 18,552 infections.
The Health Ministry also reported 384 new deaths, raising the total to 15,685.
The surge prompted authorities in the northeastern state of Assam to impose a two-week lockdown in the state capital of Gauhati. About 700 new cases were reported there in four days.
■ China reported an uptick in new coronavirus cases, a day after the nation’s CDC said it expects an outbreak in Beijing to be brought under control soon. The National Health Commission said Saturday that 21 cases had been confirmed nationwide in the latest 24-hour period, including 17 in the nation’s capital.
■ South Korea has reported 51 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus as fresh clusters continue to emerge in the densely populated Seoul area. They bring the national caseload to 12,653, including 282 deaths. Thirty-five of the new cases came from Seoul and nearby cities and towns, which have been at the center of a COVID-19 resurgence since late May.