EU adds Japan to coronavirus travel list, but Britain misses out

Brussels: EU diplomats on Wednesday added Japan to the bloc’s so-called whitelist, which allows nonessential travel from outside the European Union, but Britain is being made to wait.

Ambassadors approved the addition of Japan at a closed doors meeting in Brussels earlier, with the change expected to take effect in the coming days.

There are currently seven countries on the list — Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand — that enjoy low coronavirus infection rates.

But the UK, which left the European Union last year, has not been included.

Why did the UK not make the cut?

Last month, Brussels officials eased criteria for adding new countries to the list, by changing to 75 from 25 the maximum number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the previous 14 days.

Britain had met that revised target. But concerns about an increase in infections from a coronavirus variant first identified in India mean that UK passport holders will have to wait a while longer before returning to Europe for their summer holiday.