Leaders of European Union countries have agreed to shut the EU’s external borders to most people from other countries for 30 days in a new effort to slow the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, although movement within European Union member nations will be still be allowed.
Dan Mangan and Silvia Amaro for CNBC:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the planned closings of the massive union’s external borders at a press conference. Movement of people within the European Union’s 27 member nations will still be allowed under the restrictions. Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission said the United Kingdom is not applying restrictions to their external borders, even though it had been invited to do so. The travel restrictions are due start as soon as the individual governments take the necessary internal measures, with Germany expected to do so by the end of Tuesday. The restrictions are not applied to medical staff, medicines nor goods.
On Monday, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said he was closing his nation’s borders to foreigners, with the major exception of U.S. citizens. Also Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered people in that nation to stay at home for up to 15 days, except for essential needs.
MacDailyNews Note: More info on the Prevention & Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) via the U.S. CDC is here. Track the Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) here.