Flags of the EU fly in front of the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, June 30, 2020. The Council of the European Union (EU) on Tuesday adopted a recommendation to lift entry restrictions for residents of some third countries starting Wednesday, and the United States is noticeably shut out. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

The European Union (EU) has excluded the US from its initial "safe list" of countries from which the bloc will allow non-essential travel from Wednesday.

The 27-member bloc gave majority approval on Tuesday for leisure or business travel from 14 countries beyond its borders, said the Council of the EU, which represents EU governments.

The countries are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

Russia, Brazil and Turkey, along with the US, are among countries whose containment of the virus is considered worse than the EU average, and so will have to wait at least two weeks for approval.

The move is aimed at supporting the EU travel industry and tourist destinations, particularly countries in southern Europe hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It acts as a recommendation to EU members, meaning they could potentially set restrictions on those entering from the 14 nations.

Within hours of the EU announcement, Italy, which has one of the highest novel coronavirus death tolls in the world, said it would opt out and keep quarantine restrictions in place for all nations that were not part of the free-travel Schengen area.

Canada said it was extending its mandatory quarantine order for travelers until at the least the end of August and a travel ban for most foreigners until the end of July.

The EU's efforts to reopen internal borders, particularly within the 26-nation Schengen area which normally has no frontier checks, have been patchy as various countries have restricted access for certain visitors.

Nicholas Calio who heads a US airline trade group representing Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines and others, said the US government and the EU had discussed potential enhanced screening of EU-bound Americans in recent days. 

US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said that the US could see 100,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, and several US states imposed 14-day quarantines on travelers from other states.

Reuters