EU to leave safe travel list unchanged for now, official says

FILE PHOTO: A woman walks by the arrivals information board at Porto Airport on the first day that tourists from Britain and most EU countries are allowed to enter Portugal without needing to quarantine, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions continue to ease, Porto, Portugal, May 17, 2021. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will not change its safe travel list this week, an EU official told Reuters on Monday, allowing non-essential travel from the United States to continue for the time being despite a surge in COVID cases there.

The list currently comprises two dozen countries, including the United States, Japan and Australia, which are considered safe from a health perspective under the ongoing pandemic.