EU recommends against nonessential travel to the UK
LONDON - The European Union recommended Tuesday that all 27 member countries should discourage all nonessential travel to and from the United Kingdom until further notice.
With EU countries imposing ad-hoc restrictions on U.K. travel following the emergence of a new coronavirus variant, the European Commission urged them to take a coordinated approach, but not prevent people in the U.K. or Europe from returning to their homes.
EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said "member states should take coordinated action to discourage nonessential travel between the U.K. and the EU. At the same time, blanket travel bans should not prevent thousands of EU and U.K. citizens from returning to their homes."
The EU’s executive arm said people returning to their home countries or main place of residence should be able to do so provided they produce a negative test or quarantine themselves.
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Transport workers should be exempt from any travel ban when they are traveling across a border to and from a vessel, vehicle, or aircraft. Essential medical staff should be able to move freely without quarantine provided that they have tested negative within 72 hours of travel.
Over the weekend, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed strict lockdown measures in London and neighboring areas amid mounting concerns over the new variant to the virus, which early indications show might be 70% more transmissible.
As a result, Johnson scrapped a planned relaxation of rules over Christmastime for millions of people and banned indoor mixing of households. Only essential travel will be permitted.
Amid questions about whether vaccines being rolled out now would work against the new strain, the chief executive of BioNTech — the German pharmaceutical company behind one of those shots — said he was confident it would be effective, but further studies are needed to be completely sure.
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