Overseas Situation Report Wednesday 14th July 2021
By Mike Evans
“Your attitude, more than anything, will influence your effectiveness.” – Pat Gelsinger
The last report looked at how some countries in Europe, and ostensibly the Schengen area, were changing their rules to cover the new variant, known as the Delta variant. We received a lot of encouragement to continue on this theme, so this report is an extension of the last one, with some updated information on other countries around Europe and what restrictions they have in place.
In France the French authorities have announced that the country will introduce stringent rules against unvaccinated persons travelling from the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal.
Such a decision has been announced by the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clement Beaune, after the three countries identified increased numbers of persons infected with the Delta variant,
According to the newly announced measures, all unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated travellers entering France from the UK will now only be allowed to enter the country for essential purposes and will be obliged to present a negative Covid-19 test result, carried out within 24 hours before entry.
Previously, unvaccinated UK travellers were allowed to enter Spain, provided that they presented a negative test result obtained within 72 hours of entry.
As for vaccinated travellers wishing to enter France from the UK, they can enter the country without providing an essential purpose for their trip and without being subject to the quarantine requirement. However, they are still required to present a negative Coronavirus test result not older than 72 hours.
In order to be considered as fully vaccinated against the disease, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that the travellers should have been immunised with one of the vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), that are accepted by the country’s authorities.
It should be noted that, unlike several EU countries, France does not recognise the Covishield AstraZeneca vaccine, manufactured in India.
Besides the UK, Beaune stated that the country will also tighten the restrictions for all persons travelling from Spain and Portugal.
“Among the countries classified, Spain and Portugal will be subject to reinforced surveillance: the test required at the start must be 24 hours for unvaccinated people,” Beaune said.
Even though the two countries are placed on France’s green list, unvaccinated persons travelling from Spain and Portugal will now be subject to stricter entry restrictions. Consequently, unvaccinated persons travelling to France from one of the two countries will be obliged to present a negative Covid-19 test result not older than 24 hours. In contrast, fully vaccinated travellers will not be subject to any of the measures.
In addition to the new restrictions for the three countries, Beaune revealed that, unlike foreigners, French citizens living abroad would continue to have access to the free Covid-19 test.
With the European countries opening their borders for vaccinated travellers this summer, the requirement to present proof of vaccination has become mandatory for holidaymakers, in an attempt of the government to contain the spread of the virus as well as provide safe travel.
Yet, travellers should keep in mind that European Union Member States accept only a limited range of Covid-19 vaccines as proof of immunity. Germany is among the countries that have such measures in place and do not recognise all existing Coronavirus vaccines as proof of immunity against the disease.
To be able to enter Germany, in line with the Ordinance on Coronavirus Entry Regulations for vaccinated travellers, everyone is required to be immunised with one of the vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
As such, according to the Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biometrics, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Germany currently recognises these vaccines:
- BioNTech/Pfizer Manufacturing GmbH, Comirnaty (including BNT162b2/COMIRNATY, Tozinameran)
- Janssen-Cilag International NV
- Moderna Biotech Spain, S.L., Spikevax (including mRNA-1273)
- AstraZeneca AB, Schweden, Vaxzevria (including AZD 1222)
Besides the vaccines mentioned above, the Ministry revealed that since Covishield by the Serum Institute of India was listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization in February, the country will also recognise this type of vaccine. In addition, to be permitted entry to Germany as a vaccinated person, one must prove that at least 14 days have passed since the second dose of a two-shot vaccine has been administered. As for the recovered persons, they are obliged to prove that they had the disease before departure.
The vaccination certificate is accepted as long as it is provided in German, English, French, Italian, or Spanish, which can be provided in paper or digital format. As for the Covid-19 tests, Germany recognises nucleic acid amplification techniques, including PCR, LAMP, TMA and antigen tests. Antibody tests are not recognised.
To help travellers verify whether the vaccine they have been immunised with is recognised by the country they plan to visit, VisaGuide.World developed a new tool to help with such information. If you are planning to visit Germany during this summer, make sure to check the country’s restrictions and current measures. Previously, the German authorities announced that 25 third countries can now travel restriction-free.
Meanwhile in Cyprus, the country with the highest rate of cases per 100,000 of population in the past week, the country has ceased imposing the requirement of quarantine on arrivals from Sweden and Latvia, whereas travellers coming from Portugal will undergo stricter entry restrictions, as the country is placed in the high-risk category.
According to a press release issued by the Cypriot government, these countries have been moved to the green category from orange as the infection rates of Coronavirus in their territory have appeared to be manageable,
Currently, countries with the highest risk of Coronavirus infection transmission or the Red Category countries, as the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has noted, are as the following list shows:
- EU Member States: Spain and Portugal
- Microstates: San Marino
- Third countries: Egypt, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Kuwait, Belarus, Montenegro, Moldova, Bahrein, Brunei, Ukraine, Rwanda, Russia and Thailand
Passengers arriving from any of the aforementioned countries are subject to double testing, which means that they must carry out a PCR laboratory test within 72 hours before travelling and undergo a laboratory test upon their arrival in the Republic of Cyprus.
Travellers arriving from any of the countries included in the following Green list are exempted from self-isolation and testing requirements upon reaching Cyprus:
- EU Member States: Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Denmark,
- Estonia, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Finland
- Microstates: Monaco and Vatican City
- Schengen Area: Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway
- Third countries: Australia, Jordan, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore
Meanwhile another tourist country, Malta, has been told by the EU that their Travel Ban on unvaccinated people could be discriminatory. The Maltese authorities had previously announced that they would restrict non-vaccinated travellers from the UK due to an increased number of Covid-19 infections.
Besides the rule applied on UK travellers, Mata’s government stressed that all passengers wishing to enter the county must show a recognized Covid-19 vaccination document, while children aged 5-11 accompanying their parents must present a negative result of the PCR test. Furthermore, the government clarified that unaccompanied children would not be permitted to enter the country.
However, such a decision has been often criticized by some countries. In addition, the forum for the travel and tourism industry, World Travel and Tourism Council called on governments worldwide not to shut the doors to unvaccinated travellers. In this regard, the European Commissioner spokesperson Christian Wigand highlighted that any Coronavirus travel restriction established must be “proportionate and non-discriminatory”. “We have concerns that these measures could discriminate against those persons who are not fully vaccinated,” Wigand pointed out.
He also stressed that European Union countries could introduce measures to protect public health, but the Commission had asked Malta’s authorities to explain their measures imposed to stop the virus.
And finally, to end this report we look at Estonia, where they have imposed a 10-day mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from Spain and Andorra. This follows the same rules for people arriving form the United Kingdom, Portugal and Cyprus last week. The decision on the three latter countries was set to remain effective until July 11th; however, the increased number of infections pushed Estonia’s government to continue to apply the compulsory self-isolation requirements for travellers from the UK, Portugal and Cyprus until July 18th.
The Baltic country’s government has clarified that countries that have reported an infection rate of fewer than 150 people per 100,000 population in the past two weeks will be allowed to enter Estonia without having to follow quarantine rules. According to Estonia’s government, citizens of the following countries can enter the Baltic state quarantine-free; Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Ireland, Croatia, Iceland, Greece, Lithuania, Italy, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Luxembourg Malta, Norway, Monaco, Poland, Sweden, France, Romania, San Marino, Germany, Slovakia, Finland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic.
We are aware that travelling information is important but it is only good if it is the ‘latest up to date information’. We will continue to provide the latest guidelines as soon as we have them.
In the meantime, Stay Safe.
Total Cases Worldwide – 188,626,832
Total Deaths Worldwide – 4,066,041
Total Recovered Worldwide – 172,447,137
Total Active Cases Worldwide – 12,113,654 (6.4% of the total cases)
Total Closed Cases Worldwide – 176,513,178
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