Covid-19 surge: European Union countries urged to halt non-essential travel from India

The request came after the World Health Organisation's proposal to reclassify the B.1.617.2 variant of Covid-19 found in India as a "variant of concern", raising the alert from a "variant of interest".

The European Union’s executive on Wednesday called on countries of the bloc to temporarily halt non-essential travel from India, to limit the spread of a Covid-19 variant. The European Commission said its proposal followed the World Health Organisation's proposal on Monday to reclassify the B.1.617.2 variant of Covid-19 found in India as a "variant of concern", raising the alert from a "variant of interest".