The European Union (EU) has just updated its list of countries whose residents are eligible to visit the Europe this summer holiday that started from June to September.
Malaysia is not in the list.
According to a statement from EU transport ministers following a meeting on Thursday, among the Asian countries, only Japan, South Korea and Singapore are added to the list of nations whose people can go to any European country for holiday.
Other countries allowed open access to the EU are Australia, New Zealand, and Israel.
That means EU countries allow nonessential travel for residents from these countries regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not.
All other countries like Malaysia, India, Thailand, and Indonesia are not in the list. Travelers from these countries would enter Europe only if they are travelling for essentials, not for holiday.
The reason why they do not allow people from these countries to enter Europe is still unclear. What are the criteria?
Some countries in Asia have very low infections rates and most of their citizens are already vaccinated, yet they are not allowed to go for holiday in Europe.
According to some reports, those who have taken Chinese vaccines will be barred from entering Europe, even though the World Health Organisation (WHO) have given emergency authorization to Sinopharm and other Chinese Vaccines such as Sinovac.
On May 19, the EU agreed to ease travel restrictions on non-EU visitors ahead of the summer tourism season, however, the bloc only accepts vaccines authorised by the European Medicine Agency (EMA), which excludes China’s manufactured vaccines, according to TRT World news portal.
The EU also considers the number of tests performed, the positivity rate, the overall response to COVID-19 in the country, and the reliability of information available, in addition to a country’s progress on vaccination.
Europe has seen a decline in new Covid-19 infections and deaths since the last week of May–and about 44% of EU adults have now received at least one dose of vaccine, according to the WHO and ECDC.
A recent report by SiteMinder found that booking for summer holiday has increased by 60% compared to pre-pandemic levels for the first time since March 2020.
The Telegraph reported, Air traffic saw a 16% increase in flights taking off in the third week of May with an average of 8,132 flights operating every day across the region –according to Daniel Baker, CEO of Flight Aware, a tracking company.
Malaysia World News
