The EU has excluded Japan and five other countries from its list of safe travel destinations for coronavirus. This means that passengers from these countries will be subject to severe restrictions, such as tests for coronavirus or quarantine, according to world agencies.
In addition to Japan and Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brunei and Serbia are excluded from the list. Uruguay has been added to the list.
With these changes, the EU list now includes 12 countries. These are Moldova, Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jordan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea and Uruguay.
The EU decision is not binding and gives individual Member States the freedom to determine their own border policy on the coronavirus pandemic. Germany, for example, on Sunday added Albania, Serbia, Azerbaijan and Japan to its list of high-risk countries with more severe restrictions on visitors.