EU countries urged to halt non-essential travel from India in view of Covid-19

The European Union’s executive on Wednesday called on countries of the bloc to temporarily halt non-essential travel from India, to limit the spread of a Covid-19 variant.

The European Commission said its proposal followed the World Health Organisation’s proposal on Monday to reclassify the B.1.617.2 variant of Covid-19 found in India as a “variant of concern”, raising the alert from a “variant of interest”.

EU countries should apply an “emergency brake” on non-essential travel from India, it said in a statement.

“It is important to limit to the strict minimum the categories of travellers that can travel from India for essential reasons and to subject those who may still travel from India to strict testing and quarantine arrangements,” it added.