These EU Countries Have Facilitated Travel Restrictions This Week
After concluding that the COVID-19 disease no longer causes serious health implications and taking into account the low infection rates, Malta and Bulgaria have decided to facilitate some of their entry rules.
The Maltese authorities announced last week that the country will now apply less stringent rules for incoming travellers.
Up until now, Malta permitted restriction-free entry only to persons who were able to present a valid vaccination certificate.
However, in line with the new rules, persons who have recovered from the virus as well as those who hold a negative COVID-19 test result taken recently, can now enter Malta without having to follow any additional entry rules.
“Incoming tourists travelling to Malta from a country on the red list will be allowed in with a negative PCR test or a recognised Covid recovery certificate,” the statement of Malta’s official travel portal, Visit Malta, reads.
The authorities have emphasised that the test and recovery certificates must meet the validity period rules in order for them to be recognised upon arrival, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
A test certificate is accepted in Malta as long as it proves that the holder has undergone testing within 72 hours before arrival. On the other hand, a recovery certificate is accepted provided that it proves that its holder recovered from the virus in the last 180 days.
Bulgaria has also made changes to its entry rules for specific groups of travellers. Arrivals from Czechia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and North Macedonia can now enter Bulgaria restriction-free.
This means that travellers from the above-mentioned countries do not need to hold a valid vaccination, recovery, or test certificate when travelling to Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian authorities have explained that travellers from countries that are not placed on the exemption list still need to present COVID-19 proof. Bulgaria accepts vaccination passes issued in the last 270 days, recovery passes issued in the last 180 days, as well as both PCR and rapid antigen tests.
Apart from the two countries mentioned above, Greece also plans on easing its entry rules. The Greek authorities have announced that all travellers, regardless of their country of origin and their vaccination status, will be permitted restriction-free entry from May 2.
The Minister of Health of Greece, Thanos Plevris, said that as soon as the new decision enters into force, incoming travellers will not be required to present any COVID-19 proof.