12/05/2021 (Agence Europe) – The European Commission asked Member States, on Wednesday 12 May, to take coordinated action to further restrict travel from India on a temporary basis, “with a view to limiting the spread of the B.1.617.2 variant first detected” in that country. This measure “follows a proposal of the World Health Organization on 10 May 2021 to change the classification of that variant from ‘variant of interest’ to ‘variant of concern’”, it said. The Commission also calls for limiting, to the strict minimum, the categories of travellers that can travel from India for essential reasons and to subject those who may still travel from India (people with compelling reasons and/or resident in the EU) to strict testing and quarantine arrangements. Member States are also invited to apply the ‘emergency brake’ on non-essential travel to further tighten conditions for arrivals from India, as proposed in early May (see EUROPE 12711/1). (SP)