EU countries agree to suspend travel to southern Africa

FILE PHOTO: Passengers wearing protective face masks walk at Fiumicino Airport on the day EU governments agreed a "safe list" of 14 countries for which they will allow non-essential travel starting from July, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Rome, Italy, June 30, 2020. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union states have agreed to suspend travel from southern Africa after the detection of a new COVID-19 variant, the presidency of the EU said on Friday.

A committee of health experts from all 27 EU states "agreed on the need to activate the emergency break & impose temporary restriction on all travel into EU from southern Africa", the Slovenian presidency of the EU said on Twitter.