“Why border ‘ll remain closed till June 15”

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

In order to avert a second wave of coronavirus infection, the  European Union has said it would keep her external borders shut until June 15, it therefore called for an unrelenting steps in reducing the spread of the virus.

The step taken by the world regional body followed  a recommendation of the European Commission to extend the current Covid-19 travel ban by another 30 days, the Commission in a statement last  Friday said that despite progress in many countries, the coronavirus situation remains fragile both in Europe and worldwide.

Yiva Johnson

According to the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, lifting of travel restrictions should therefore be effected in a phased and coordinated manner so as to prevent a second wave of infections.

In the month of March, EU member states closed their borders to travelers from outside the bloc in a bid to curb the rapidly spreading coronavirus. However, the move by some countries that quickly moved to close their internal borders to travelers, even those from fellow-member states never went down well with Brussels, (Belgium) the unofficial capital of the EU.

The current ban on travel however does not affect the United Kingdom(UK), since it is still in its Brexit transition phase and is still treated in many ways as an EU member. Healthcare workers and other workers, including those transporting cargo, are at the same time exempted from the restrictions.

On Thursday before the EU decision of Friday , France had already announced that it would keep its own borders shut to non-essential travelers until June 15th.

Presently, there are about 1,580,652 cases of coronavirus infection reported cases in Europe, with five highest reported countries as Spain 227,436, UK 223,060, Russia 221,344, Italy 219,814, and Germany 170,508.