Reuters reported on Friday that the European Union had begun the process to remove the United States from the 27-country bloc’s ‘safe list’ of countries, signaling a move to reinstate travel restrictions barring non-essential travel from the U.S. and imposing quarantine and testing on U.S. travelers arriving into the region. The Reuters report cited commentary from two anonymous diplomats who were not authorized to speak on the issue. The New York Times confirmed the report on Sunday.

The restrictions recommended by the European Council would not be mandatory among EU
member states. Each country will have latitude to reimpose whatever
restrictions they choose, or none at all. Despite the EU opening travel
to U.S. travelers in June, the U.S. has not reciprocated and remains
closed to EU travelers.

Countries designated as ‘safe’ by the EU have maintained infection rates of 75 or less per 100,000 people. The recent surge of the delta variant in the U.S. has pushed number well above that rate to 328 per 100,000, according to Reuters Covid-19 tracker.