Two more countries have been removed from the European Union’s list of epidemiologically safe third countries today, on November 9.
The decision has been taken and announced by the EU Council, which through a press release, pointed out that Singapore and Ukraine have been removed from the list of safe third countries, for which list the member states are recommended to remove travel restrictions.
The move means that the Member States are now advised to reimpose entry restrictions on arrivals from Singapore and Ukraine, in particular for unvaccinated travellers.
“Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which travel restrictions should be lifted. In particular, Singapore and Ukraine were removed from the list,” the EU Council notes in its press release.
The decision was taken after both Singapore and Ukraine reported a higher number of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. Data by the World Health Organization shows that only in the 24 last hours Singapore has reported a number of 2,553 new COVID-19 cases. The country is home to a population of 5.686 million,
On the other hand, Ukraine, which counts 44.13 million residents, has reported 13,068 new cases.
Last week, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported that the Council was set to remove Ukraine from the list. The information had also been confirmed by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which rushed to point out that though the country was removed from the white list, this did not affect the visa-free travel agreement between Ukraine and the EU anyhow.
The last time the white list was reviewed was on October 29, when Argentina, Colombia, Namibia and Peru were added to it. Soon enough, several counties have started applying the recommendation, including here Germany and Sweden.
Prior to that, the list had been updated on October 8 with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates being added to it. Whereas on September 23, the Council had advised the Member States to remove entry restrictions for travellers from Chile, Kuwait and Rwanda and reimpose the travel ban for Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As of November 9, the list consists of the following countries:
- Argentina
- Australia
- Bahrain
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Namibia
- New Zealand
- Peru
- Qatar
- Rwanda
- Saudi Arabia
- South Korea
- United Arab Emirates
- Uruguay
- China, subject to confirmation of reciprocity
The Member States are highly encouraged to remove the entry ban on travellers from these countries, as well as for the special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macao. Removal of the entry ban on Chinese travellers is recommended as soon as China reciprocates the move.
