EU approves 'white list' travel status for eight destinations

Entry restrictions lifted for Lebanon and US residents from Friday

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The EU on Friday lifted Covid-19 travel restrictions for residents of Lebanon, the US and six other countries and territories.

Albania, Hong Kong, Macau, the Republic of Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Taiwan were also added to the EU's "white list", which allows travel to the bloc for non-essential reasons such as tourism from Friday.

The bloc’s member states can independently decide to waive the need for travellers to quarantine on arrival or be fully vaccinated.

Some EU nations were already allowing immunised tourists from certain countries to enter.

Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand were already on the "white list", which takes into account the Covid-19 situation and response in each country or territory. China will be added to the list subject to confirmation of reciprocity.

The list is reviewed every two weeks as the EU looks to ease restrictions with the economically important summer tourist season ahead.

The non-essential travel ban from third countries has largely been in place since March 2020.

Any country that reports fewer than 75 daily new Covid cases per 100,000 people for two straight weeks will be considered for inclusion in the EU's "white list" countries.

There must also be evidence of a stable or decreasing trend of new infections across 14 days and the overall response by authorities in each country to the wider pandemic.