European Union agreed on Wednesday to include Canada and 10 other countries in the bloc’s approved travel list, EU diplomats said.
Ambassadors from the EU’s 27 states approved the additions at a meeting on Wednesday, with the change to take effect in the coming days.
Alongside Canada, the ambassadors agreed to add Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Jordan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia to the list.
EU countries are recommended to gradually lift travel restrictions for the current 14 countries on the list – Albania, Australia, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Rwanda, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States.
Chinese administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau are also included.
The bloc last year halted non-essential travel from non-EU countries due to the coronavirus. The safe travel list, while non-binding, indicates which countries that restriction should be lifted for.
Individual EU countries can still opt to demand a negative COVID-19 test or a period of quarantine.
