EU’s coronavirus lockdown: European countries are poised to BAN Britons and other ‘third-party travellers’ from entering 26-state Schengen zone amid coronavirus crisis
- Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a proposed ban all non-essential travel
- The 26-nation Schengen free travel area locked down to outsiders for 30 days
- She said health care systems were under massive pressure within the EU
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
The EU today revealed plans to shut itself off from all outsiders including Brits as it takes drastic measures to halt the spread of coronavirus.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a proposed ban all non-essential travel by non-citizens into the 26-nation Schengen free travel area for 30 days.
In addition, emergency medical and food supplies into the bloc will be able to use special ‘fast lanes’ to ensure health services and suppermarkets can cope with demand.
The Schengen area includes 22 EU countries but not member states Ireland, Cyprus, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria.
Non EU-members Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are also within it. But the UK has been outside since Brexit.
The EU is said to be preparing to prohibit all but essential travel into the Schengen free-travel area by people from so-called ‘third countries’ outside the bloc
Sources told Reuters they expected EU leaders to discuss the matter during a video conference on Tuesday on the health crisis.
A second EU official said: ‘The idea is being discussed with a view to avoid putting the health services under even more strain. But it remains to be seen what EU leaders decide on Tuesday, whether non-EU Schengen countries join, whether we coordinate with Britain and Ireland too.’
It came as Germany announced plans to close shops, limit restaurants’ opening hours and ban church services in further efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus threatening Europe’s biggest economy, its largest selling newspaper Bild reported on Monday.
If confirmed, the moves would bring Germany a step nearer to a state of total lockdown like that in force in Italy and Spain, where most people are confined to their homes, and wreak further economic disruption.
The epidemic has already snuffed out hope of a first-quarter upswing on which people had been counting to avert recession, and will weigh on Germany’s economy until at least the third quarter, the Economy Ministry said.
The usually well-informed Bild said the government had recommended regions shut non-essential shops, ban church services and allow restaurants to open only between 6am and 6pm, with Germany’s 16 federal states having to decide which of the measures to apply and how, Bild said.
There was no immediate government confirmation of the report. Chancellor Angela Merkel was due to hold a news conference at 5pm UK time.
With schools already shut, almost 5,000 people known to be infected and 12 dead in official figures published at the weekend, and case numbers rising rapidly, many fear Germany is heading for the kind of disruption to everyday life that other countries, especially Italy, have experienced in recent weeks.