Brussels:
The European Union’s executive on Wednesday referred to as on nations of the bloc to temporarily halt non-critical travel from India, to limit the spread of a COVID-19 variant.
The European Commission stated its proposal followed the World Health Organisation’s proposal on Monday to reclassify the B.1.617.2 variant of COVID-19 identified in India as a “variant of concern”, raising the alert from a “variant of interest”.
EU nations must apply an “emergency brake” on non-critical travel from India, it stated in a statement.
“It is important to limit to the strict minimum the categories of travellers that can travel from India for essential reasons and to subject those who may still travel from India to strict testing and quarantine arrangements,” it added.
Last week the Commission proposed that the EU’s 27 member states ease COVID-19 travel restrictions from June to let foreign travellers from more nations to enter the bloc, even though maintaining the solution to immediately restrict travel from nations exactly where the wellness scenario deteriorates sharply.
The member states have not however adopted this recommendation but could individually opt to ban non-critical travel from India prior to it is adopted.
India’s coronavirus death count crossed 250,000 on Wednesday in the deadliest 24 hours because the pandemic started and authorities about the world have expressed concern the variant very first identified there might be extremely transmissible.
The European Commission stated restricted exemptions must apply to its proposed halt to travel from India, such as to these travelling for “imperative family reasons” or EU citizens and extended-term residents.
Those travellers must face added wellness measures on arrival in the EU, such as strict testing or quarantine needs, it stated.