The European Union Council is set to narrow down the list of epidemiologically safe third countries removing an additional six more countries from it.
As reported by SchengenVisaInfo.com, sources of Reuters within the EU have once again made known the list of countries that will most possibly be removed from the list on Wednesday when the EU Council meets to review the list. The following countries will be affected:
Albania
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Brunei Darussalam
Japan
Serbia
The removal from the list means that the Member States will be advised to reinstate entry restrictions on travellers from these countries, which travellers so far have been eligible to enter most EU and Schengen Area countries completely restriction-free.
The entry restrictions that may soon be imposed on these travellers include testing, double testing, quarantine, and even an entry ban on those unvaccinated.
While the EU’s decision is expected to be finalized by the end of the week, some EU and Schengen countries have already removed some or all of these countries from their “white lists”.
SchengenVisaInfo.com reported on August 23 that Norway removed Albania from its list of third-countries travellers from where could enter under facilitated entry rules. Whereas on September 3, Finland had reimposed entry restrictions on unvaccinated visitors from Brunei.
On the most recent update of travel restrictions, published on September 5, Albania, Serbia, and Brunei have been removed from the Czech Republic’s green list, which means that non-vaccinated travellers from these three countries will be obliged to fill in an arrival form and take a COVID-19 test before entering Czechia or no later than five days upon arrival.
Since September 6, on the other hand, residents of Albania, Azerbaijan, Japan, and Serbia aged 12 and older are obliged to show proof of vaccination, or test results, upon entry in Germany. It is also mandatory for them to register at einreiseanmeldung.de before reaching Germany and carry proof of registration with them when arriving in the country.
The EU had added Japan to its list of safe countries on June 3. However, the country has recently marked an increasing number of COVID-19 cases, though, by the end of August, half of the Japanese population had already received at least the first COVID-19 dose, according to Statista.
Only within the last 24 hours, data by the World Health Organization shows that Japan has recorded 9,145 new COVID-19 cases, and 33 deaths, whereas the rate for newly reported cases in the last seven days per 100,000 population is 87.91.
