The European Union has removed Armenia and five other countries from its list of safe travel destinations, meaning visitors or people returning from those countries are likely to face tighter controls such as COVID-19 tests or quarantine.
Following a review, the governments of the EU’s 27 member states agreed to drop Japan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brunei and Serbia, the European Council said on Thursday. Uruguay has been added to the list.
With changes the EU safe list compromises 12 countries, including Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia. Chinese territories Hong Kong and Macao are also considered safe.
The bloc still lets in most non-EU visitors who are fully vaccinated, although tests and periods of quarantine can apply, depending on the EU country of arrival.
Average daily COVID-19 cases in the six countries knocked off the EU safe list have risen sharply from below 40 per million people in late June to over 100 in the week to Sept. 8, figures from Our World in Data show, with Serbia at 593.
