EU may continue to ban US travellers as pandemic wreaks havoc

European Union countries desperate to revive their economies and reopen borders to tourists may bar US citizens from entering because the country’s efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic has not shown any positive results, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Drafts of lists of countries that would be blocked show that the US — which has had at least 2,312,302 confirmed cases and 120,402 deaths, the most in the world — is among those under consideration for the ban along with Brazil and Russia, the paper reported.

EU nations are considering potential lists of visitors who would be acceptable based on how their countries are handling the pandemic, and they include China, along with developing nations such Uganda, Cuba and Vietnam.

Visitors from the US and elsewhere have been excluded from visiting the EU, with exceptions for repatriations or “essential travel,” since mid-March.

But members will make a final decision on who can and who cannot enter before the bloc reopens for travel on July 1.

Most of Western Europe has the outbreak under control, while cases continue to rise in the US, leading some officials to propose that travellers from the States be excluded.

The move would surely inflame tensions between the EU and the US given the economic reliance the US and EU have on one another regarding trade and tourism.

Millions of American tourists visit EU countries every year, and vice versa.