INTERNATIONAL: EU ministers have recommended on Tuesday,January 25 that member states ease travel within the European Union for those who are vaccinated against COVID-19, scrapping restrictions based on the country or region of origin.

The recommendations, which are not binding, would mean that an EU digital COVID certificate would be sufficient to travel round the bloc, though they allow countries to impose additional measures in exceptional circumstances.

The certificates are based on vaccination status, but can also be activated by a recent recovery from COVID or a recent negative PCR test.

Many EU countries including France, Belgium and Ireland do not impose restrictions on vaccinated travellers arriving from the EU though others, including Italy, do.

The new recommendations come into force on February 1.