What does Australia’s removal from the European Council’s travel ‘white list’ mean?

The European Council has removed Australia from the "white list", a register of countries from which it recommends travel restrictions should be lifted.

The council's list of epidemiologically-safe third countries is non-binding and countries within the European Union are able to set their own border requirements, which may involve quarantine or testing requirements.

The European Council said on 17 January it had updated its list of countries for which travel restrictions should be lifted, and removed Argentina, Australia and Canada.

The decision is non-binding on European Union member states and reviewed every two weeks.

Under the criteria used by the European Council, all restrictions on travellers from a third country can be lifted if the rate of Covid-19 infections in the past 14 days is less than 75 in 100,000.

The criteria also states that if countries accept proof of vaccination to waive travel restrictions such as testing or quarantine requirements, they should in principle lift restrictions on travel for all double-dosed international travellers.

This decision to remove Australia from the list was made in the 14 days in which Australia's daily Covid numbers shot up from 30,000 to more than 100,000. In the past week, Australia has averaged 274 cases per 100,000, a 20% drop on the previous seven days.