The EU reopens its borders. From 1 July, 15 countries can return to travel to the Old Continent. They stay out from the United States, Brazil, Russia list, India and Israel. The commitment made by each government, including the Italian one, is binding, even if the 27 countries will be asked to confirm the list every 2 weeks. The opening is allowed only to countries that have similar, or even better, epidemiological levels than those in Europe.
Despite the initial doubts, a cautious attitude prevailed, basing the green light on 3 criteria: to have a rate of new infections per 100 people, in the last 2 weeks, no higher than 16,1 which is the European average; present a trend of decreasing infections or at least not increasing; and, finally, have an index of reliability of the health system higher than 57 out of 100 (EU average grade).
This score is based on the parameters established by the International Health Regulations of the World Health Organization, aimed at measuring the response capacity of a nation in the face of public health emergencies of global importance.
At the moment the admitted countries are: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Tunisia, Thailand and Uruguay.
Green light also to arrivals from China, which declares a contagion rate of 0, but on condition that Beijing does the same with European citizens. So there must be reciprocity. The UK it does not currently appear in any list and continues to record a rather high contagion rate. Despite Brexit, however, it continues to be treated as a member state.
After the first moments of hesitation, Italy has also signed the list of reopenings, but the position of the Italian government remains based on the line of "maximum precaution", Palazzo Chigi says.
(Last update: 10.40 on 1st July)
