#European Union may ban American tourists over coronavirus concerns

Enlarge Image

Travelers line up to board a flight at Berlin’s Tegel Airport on Monday.
Michael Sohn/AP

European Union countries desperate to revive their economies and reopen their borders to tourists may bar Americans from entering because US efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic have not stopped a steady rise in cases and deaths, the New York Times reported 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, where the outbreak began, 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 travelers 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.