Portugal on Wednesday became the first European country to ban entry to Israelis following the European Union's recommendation its 27 member-states reimpose restrictions on tourists from seven countries, including Israel, because of rising coronavirus infections there.
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The Portuguese ban, which also covers vaccinated Israelis and those able to provide proof of a negative coronavirus test, comes one day after Italy announced it would tighten restrictions on Israeli visitors. On Monday, Rome announced Israelis would only be allowed entry if they were vaccinated, had recovered from the virus in the last six months, or were able to present a negative coronavirus test. Unvaccinated Israelis or those who had not recovered from the virus would require quarantine upon entry, the Italian government said.
"Nonessential travel to the EU from countries or entities not listed [on the safe list] ... is subject to temporary travel restriction," the council said in a statement Monday. "This is without prejudice to the possibility for member states to lift the temporary restriction on nonessential travel to the EU for fully vaccinated travelers."
In addition to Israel, the EU also removed the United States, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and North Macedonia from the safe travel list.
The European Council updates the safe travel list every two weeks based on criteria related to coronavirus infection levels. The threshold for being on the EU safe list is having not more than 75 new COVID cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last 14 days.
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