EU to reopen bloc’s borders

EU member states yesterday agreed to reopen the bloc’s borders to travellers who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, European sources said.

Meeting in Brussels, diplomats also agreed to increase the level of new cases a country can hit before being declared unsafe — a measure that would open up travel into the EU from more places.

The recommendations will be adopted by EU ministers on Friday, they said. An EU Commission spokesman confirmed that the envoys had endorsed the update to travel rules.

Since March 2020, non-essential travel into the 27-member European Union has been banned, apart from a small number of countries deemed safe because of their low Covid case rate.

But businesses on the continent are reopening as virus restrictions are phased out and bars, hotels and restaurants are worried about the summer tourist trade.

Diplomats said that, under the new rules, travellers who could demonstrate that they had received the required number of doses of an EU-approved vaccine could enter the bloc.

According to an AFP count, more than 1.5 billion doses of anti-Covid vaccines have been injected into people’s arms around the world, six months after the vaccination drive started.

Nearly three fifths of the total have been administered in three countries: China (421.9 million), the United States (274.4 million) and India (184.4 million). Malaysia yesterday reported a record 6,075 coronavirus cases in a single day, with authorities warning of a “dire” situation as hospitals rapidly fill up in the worst-hit areas.

The Southeast Asian nation has been battling a growing outbreak for months and had already tightened curbs nationwide ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr last week.

But infections have continued to rise and authorities are now considering tougher lockdowns in some areas.

Taiwan yesterday raised its coronavirus alert level, tightening social distancing measures as it battled a widening outbreak.

The Level 3 alert was imposed on the entire island with entertainment venues, libraries, sports facilities and community centres closed.

Meanwhile, the US global coordinator on Covid Gayle Smith yesterday told a news conference that the United States will donate a significant number of vaccines through the WHO’s COVAX scheme for distributing doses to poorer countries. Smith also said that the United States was also planning to increase its funding for COVAX, in addition to $2 billion which she said it had already donated to the facility in past months.