As the European Union member states are gradually trying to resume tourism this summer and launch flights, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published a list of airports in the affected areas with a high risk of transmission of Covid 19 infection, including all airports of Pakistan.

This blacklist of airports includes 34 countries, cities and an airport where the coronavirus pandemic remains out of control. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has set the airport blacklist to support aircraft and airport operators to place an additional layer of protection for passengers and crew.

The list is not intended to suggest travel restrictions or other public health measures (such as quarantine) at state level. The list is developed in coordination with EASA Member States and based on the information from WHO, ECDC and other reputable public health institutes.

34 countries ranked as high risk in European countries, the EASA agency blacklisted the airports in the following countries:

Belgium (all airports), France (all airports in Ile-de-France), Italy (Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Piemonte), Netherlands (Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Eindhoven Airport, Maastricht Aachen Airport, Rotterdam The Hague Airport), Poland (Katowice Airport), Portugal (Francisco Carneiro Airport, Lisbon Portela Airport), Spain (Castile and Leon, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, Madrid), Sweden (Airports in the Stockholm area), United Kingdom (Birmingham, Doncaster Sheffield, East Midlands, Gatwick, Glasgow, Heathrow, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool John Lennon, London City, Luton, Manchester Airport, Newcastle International, Stansted).

The EASA has blacklisted following countries airports:

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil (Amazonas, Bahia, Cear, Esprito Santo, Maranho , Paraba, Pernambuco, Piau, Rio De Janeiro, Santa Catarina, Sao Paulo), Canada (All airports in the following regions:, Ontario, Quebec), Chile, Colombia (All airports in Bogota region), Dominican Republic, Equator Republic, Egypt, India (All airports in the following states: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh), Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Qatar, Russia (All airports in thefollowing regions:, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Moscow, Murmansk, NizhnyNovgorod, Rostov Oblast, Sankt Petersburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Yaroslavl Oblast), Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine (All airports in the following regions:, Chernivtsi, Kyiv), United Arab Emirates, United States of America (All airports in the following States: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington).

The decision to include or not an airport in the list must be based on data, ideally collected and arranged in a consistent manner. Unfortunately, States worldwide do not report the same data and not in the same manner. For example the ratio per capita (number of active cases/inhabitants) is a relatively good indicator, although influenced by the extent of the testing and the national criteria used for testing: in some countries there is only testing of symptomatic cases, while other countries test direct contact and severe symptomatic cases, or patients that have both symptoms and direct contact with another positive case.

Furthermore, there are countries that have tested more than 10% of the population while others have tested less than 1%. In addition, the testing ratio as presented by some websites and dashboards is based on the total number of confirmed cases and not on the number of active cases.