The European Union plans to ban a portion of travelers from the United States, regarding coronavirus-related concerns. The New York Times reports that the U.S. is among a list of countries including Russia, and others that are considered too risky by E.U. officials.
"We have not set the final objective criteria so the first list of countries has not been written. It does not exist. We have data for sure, but there is no list," an EU official told CNN on Thursday.
"The objective criteria has to be applied equally to a hundred or more third countries, so it was never about one country."
A final list will need backing from E.U. ambassadors before the travel ban is put into action. Once confirmed, the list will be updated every two weeks.
"We’ll work closely with our European friends, broadly, because I know there’s different views," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, Thursday. "We’ve heard from a dozen or more countries that have very different views about their willingness to open up their borders to anyone, not only folks from the United States of America."
The U.S. has a higher number of confirmed cases and deaths related to COVID-19 than any other country.
[Via]
