Albania is not part of the epidemiologically safe third countries list when it comes to the Covid-19 outbreak as of this Thursday, since the European Union Council has decided to remove it, along with 13 more countries.

Part of the not-safe list are also Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Jordan, New Zealand, Qatar, Republic of Moldova, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Ukraine, Uruguay (new) and China, subject to reciprocity confirmation.

This decision will be in force for the next 2 weeks, and after this deadline, it will be seen again if there will be changes or the same measures will remain in force.

In addition, the recommendation further stipulates that starting from 9 September, EU member states should gradually lift travel restrictions at external borders for residents of third countries.

On September 7, the schengenvisainfo reported that The European Union Council is set to narrow down the list of epidemiologically safe third countries removing an additional six more countries from it.

Sources of Reuters within the EU have once again made known the list of countries that will most possibly be removed from the list on Wednesday when the EU Council meets to review the list.

The removal from the list means that the Member States will be advised to reinstate entry restrictions on travellers from these countries, which travellers so far have been eligible to enter most EU and Schengen Area countries completely restriction-free.

The entry restrictions that may soon be imposed on these travellers include testing, double testing, quarantine, and even an entry ban on those unvaccinated.

While the EU’s decision is expected to be finalized by the end of the week, some EU and Schengen countries have already removed some or all of these countries from their “white lists”, the schengenvisainfo added.