Turkey excluded from EU's coronavirus 'safe' travel list

Duvar English / Reuters

The European Union has excluded Turkey from its initial "safe list" of countries from which the bloc will allow non-essential travel from July 1.

Turkey 12th worst coronavirus-hit country with over 190,000 infections

The27-member bloc gave approval on June 30 to leisure or business travelfrom 14 countries beyond its borders, the Council of the EU, whichrepresents EU governments, said in a statement.

Thecountries are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro,Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisiaand Uruguay.

Chinahas also been provisionally approved, although travel would only openup if Chinese authorities also allowed in EU visitors. Reciprocity isa condition of being on the list.

Russia, Brazil and United States, along with Turkey, are among countries whose containment of the virus is considered worse than that of the EU average and so will have to wait at least two weeks. The bloc will carry out fortnightly reviews.

Turkey's use of controversial malaria drug 'keeping Germany from lifting its travel warning'

The daily number of new confirmed cases in Turkey has surged over the past two weeks after a shift to "normalization process." Turkey has the world’s 17th worst coronavirus outbreak, with nearly 200,000 people confirmed infected.

The EU's move is aimed at supporting the travel industry and tourist destinations, particularly countries in southern Europe hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thelist needed a "qualified majority" of EU countries to bepassed, meaning 15 EU countries representing 65 percent of thepopulation.

It acts as a recommendation to EU members, meaning they could potentially set restrictions on those entering from the 14 nations and will almost certainly not allow access to travellers from other countries.

Greece to reopen land borders with Turkey on July 1

TheEU's efforts to reopen internal borders, particularly among the26-nation Schengen area which normally has no frontier checks, havebeen patchy as various countries have restricted access for certainvisitors.

Greeceis mandating COVID-19 tests for arrivals from a range of EUcountries, including France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, withself-isolation until results are known.

TheCzech Republic is not allowing in tourists from Portugal and Sweden.

Britishresidents can also travel to many EU countries, althoughnon-essential travellers to Britain are required to self-isolate for14 days.