European Union officials are moving to stop Canadians traveling to the European bloc amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In July, the European Union established a list of countries whose citizens would be allowed access for non-essential travel.
Canada has been on the approved list since day one, along with 14 other countries.
The United States was on the banned countries list from the start.
In August, the European Union removed Algeria, Montenegro, Morocco and Serbia from the list due to high numbers of coronavirus cases in those countries.
Officials meet every two weeks to decide whether any changes should be made to the list, and no changes have been recommended since.
Case numbers rise
On Wednesday, the officials met at their regular meeting. According to Reuters, Bloomberg and other reports, they have decided to remove three countries – Canada, Tunisia and Georgia – with Singapore being added to the approved travel list.
An EU official who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed to CBC News that the bloc decided to change the composition of the list, the final version of which is expected to be published within days.
According to the CBC’s coronavirus tracker, there are more than 203,000 confirmed cases of the disease across Canada, with 2,251 new cases on Tuesday.
After the changes, the list consists of nine countries: Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Uruguay.
The decision does not immediately prohibit travel, and it is not necessarily strictly enforced in every country in the European Union.
Some countries, such as France, have not placed any restrictions on visitors from the countries on the list. Germany has narrowed the list down while Italy requires a period of self-isolation and requires travelers to take a private car to their destinations even if they are on the list.
The Canada Border Services Agency does not provide a breakdown of the number of Canadians who have traveled to the various European Union countries, but the Canadian Bureau of Statistics notes that in July, the month with the most recent data, 57,000 people came to Canada from France, 11,000 from the Netherlands and 42,000 from Germany. .
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