EU member states have lifted travel restrictions into the EU for 14 countries from tomorrow. The list excludes the United States, Britain, Russia and Turkey.
The decision, which comes in the form of a recommendation, confirms that since Ireland is not a member of the Schengen free travel area the measure does not apply.
The 14 countries are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.
Chinese residents will be allowed to travel to the EU providing Beijing introduces reciprocal measures for EU residents.
Countries qualify for the list so long as they meet epidemiological criteria. In particular, the number of new Covid-19 cases in the past 14 days and the number per 100,000 inhabitants must be close to or below the EU average as it stood on 15 June.
Countries should have a stable or decreasing trend of new cases over this period in comparison to the previous 14 days.
The qualifying criteria also include the availability of information on testing, surveillance, contact tracing, containment treatment and reporting.
The recommendation from member states is non-binding in that national capitals remain responsible for decisions on allowing third country residents in.
The list will be reviewed every two weeks.
Russia and Brazil are among countries that also did not make the initial "safe list".