Overseas Situation Report Monday 28th June 2021
By Mike Evans
“Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information.” – Idries Shah
With the launch last week of the so called “ Green Digital Certificate” in Portugal, an initiative which was originally hailed as a great example of EU collaboration, we are now seeing that despite all 27 EU countries agreeing to its purpose, already Germany has decided that anyone who arrives from Portugal whether fully vaccinated or not now has to quarantine for 14 days, which is in total opposition to what the values of the certificate were originally set up for.
In this Overseas Report we are looking at what other issues travellers can expect, when moving between countries, as the summer holiday season starts and many countries who rely on tourism are trying to get back to some form of normality.
With many EU countries opening up their borders to vaccinated Americans, there was a lot of expectation that the same would be happening in the USA. However, on Friday, the US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken cut off the hopes of millions that the US could, within days, reciprocate the EU’s move to reopen the borders.
Commenting on the existing entry ban on EU nationals at a news conference in Paris, Secretary Blinken said that it would be “premature”, and as such, the US is set to refrain from doing the same, at least for now.
“We are anxious to be able to restore travel as fully and quickly as possible. I can’t put a date on it, we have to be guided by the science, by medical expertise,” the Secretary said, who travelled to France this week to meet with French leaders, President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The European Union Council had recommended to the Member States to reopen the borders for US travellers, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, on June 18th. The recommendation has been followed with concrete action by several countries, including Germany, France, Switzerland, Denmark, and more, which now permit travellers for the US to enter their territory for non-essential purposes.
Norway last week joined the European Union’s gateway for the issuance and verification of the EU COVID-19 Vaccination Passport for those who have been vaccinated against the Coronavirus, those who have recovered in the last six months, and those who test negative before their trip.
According to a press release of the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services starting from Thursday, June 24th, travellers who hold such documents will be eligible to enter Norway completely free of restrictions, without the need to register before entry, test or quarantine.
From today, Norwegians will also be able to apply to get their certificates, while starting from July 1st, all EU and Schengen Area Member states will also be able to verify the EU COVID-19 Vaccination Passports issued by the Norwegian authorities, the Ministry explains. Commenting on the document, the Minister of Health and Care Services, Bent Høie, said that will mean a lot for both individuals and for important jobs in the tourism industry in Norway. “Thanks to a fast, efficient and good European cooperation, we already have a corona certificate solution on Thursday that will be able to make travel significantly easier for people who have been fully vaccinated or have undergone corona disease,” Minister Høie also said.
In Norway’s immediate neighbour, Denmark, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that all European Union and Schengen Area countries that have been placed on the yellow list will now be moved to the green one, and at the same time, those that were placed on the orange list will now move to the yellow list.
The Ministry clarified that based on the new decision, the following countries will be included in Denmark’s green list:
EU/Schengen Area green countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Czechia, Germany, and Austria
EU/Schengen Area regions: Portugal: Madeira, and Spain: Aragonien, Asturien, Balearische, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Cataluña, Ceuta, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid, Melilla, Murcia, and Valencia
All persons arriving in Denmark from one of the above-mentioned countries/regions placed on the green list will be permitted entry into the country without being subject to the testing or quarantine requirements. At the same time, the Ministry announced that several other countries have moved to the yellow list:
European/Schengen Area countries: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Portugal (excluding Madeira), San Marino, Spain (excluding the green regions), and the Vatican City State
Similar to arrivals from countries/regions on the green list, those arriving from one of the countries in the yellow list are exempted from the quarantine requirement. Nonetheless, they still need to undergo Covid-19 testing upon arrival.
Hungary has opened its borders with its near neighbours, Anyone coming from Croatia, Austria, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia or Slovenia can enter Hungary freely after the latter opened its Schengen borders for those passing land borders, the Hungarian authorities announced. However, restrictions for air travelling remain unchanged. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, national borders within the Schengen Area should reopen if the management of the pandemic continues improving in the current direction.
Only travellers coming from Ukraine are subject to entry restrictions when attempting to travel to Hungary, among all other neighbours of this country.
Furthermore, the Hungarian government has offered people who live in the neighbouring countries’ mutual borders to get vaccinated in Hungary starting from July, regardless of whether they are Hungarian or non-Hungarian citizens. However, those crossing the border for vaccination must be 18 or older, and individuals have to accept the vaccine offered, whichever it is.
On the other hand, travellers arriving by plane have to continue facing the same restrictions. A vaccination or recovery certificate must be presented, or the passenger has to undergo quarantine, which can vary depending on the country as they do not face similar restrictions.
While Germany has added restrictions to arrivals from some EU countries Switzerland, its close neighbour, has announced a relaxing of controls of entry requirements for arrivals from the Schengen Area and third countries. The decision became effective on June 26th, Sunday, and from then on, travellers reaching Switzerland from any of the Schengen Area countries will no longer have to go through quarantine.
Vaccinated travellers from these countries will also be exempt from the requirement of negative Covid-19 test results. Only those who haven’t been vaccinated or haven’t recovered from Covid-19 reaching Switzerland through the air will have to present negative Covid-19 test results. At the same time, the Federal Office of Public Health will revise the current list of high-risk countries, which will then include only countries and regions with a worrying virus variant.
Yet, travellers from countries with a virus variant will still be permitted to enter Switzerland without quarantine and testing if they have been vaccinated against Covid-19 or who have recently recovered from the virus.
Whereas those who haven’t been vaccinated and haven’t been infected with the virus recently are obliged to present a negative PCR test or rapid antigen test and go into quarantine on entry.
To help their tourist trade, the Dutch Government has announced that 3.5 million Covid-19 tests have been set aside to be made available for everyone planning to travel to the country during July and August.
The announcement was made through a press conference, during which Health Minister, Hugo de Jonge, said that free Coronavirus tests will be made available for all persons who are not fully vaccinated but still wish to travel during summer. Holidaymakers will be able to make use of the free test by asking for test compensation via a travel company or booking a test by a company contracted by the Government. Both PCR and rapid antigen tests will be available for holidaymakers entering the Netherlands. The authorities revealed that the PCR test results will be available within 24 hours, whereas the rapid antigen test results will be available within three hours. The test result can then be presented to the responsive authorities in digital or paper format.
Additionally, the authorities announced that from June 26th, the country will relax most of the Covid-19 measures, and the face mask rule will be lifted. The advice to work from home will also be lifted. In order to make it easier to check the vaccination and testing status of the travellers, the Dutch authorities implemented the EU Digital COVID Passport in the CoronaCheck App, which includes all the necessary information on the holder.
Finally, our nearest neighbour Spain has abolished testing for arrivals from the majority of regions of Germany and Italy. Most regions in Germany and Italy have been excluded from Spain’s high-risk list of countries and areas, based on the Covid-19 infection rate. As a result, Spain now permits citizens of these regions to travel the country without being obliged to present a negative result of the Covid-19 test or proof of vaccination or recovery.
Such a decision has been confirmed by Spain’s Health Ministry after it updated its entry requirements for all European Union and European Economic Area and it’s expected to boost the number of tourists in the South-western European country
According to the Spanish Health Ministry, the number of infections in both regions mentioned above has recently decreased; taking into account their advanced vaccination campaigns; therefore, they will be allowed to enter the country restriction-free.
Citizens from all German states, excluding Baden-Württemberg and Saarland, can benefit from Spain’s recent decision too.
As for Italy, travellers from the following regions will be permitted to enter Spain restriction-free; Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lombardia, Liguria, Marche, Piemonte, Molise, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano/Bozen, Puglia, Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Sardinia, Toscana, Umbria and Veneto.
Earlier this month, Spain’s coastline Costa Blanca welcomed six thousand tourists, a day after Spain permitted vaccinated people from all over the world to enter the country.
The Southern European country opened its doors to citizens from all over the world, except for those coming from Brazil, South Africa and India, which have reported an increased number of variant infections recently. Such a decision was taken to help the country’s tourism sector recover from the Covid-19 crisis.
As more EU countries open up to tourists from all parts of the world it is becoming increasingly obvious that many parts of the world are now trying to live with the virus and where possible go about their normal business. We can all hope that this helps everyone to get back to a sense of normality.
Until the next time, Stay Safe.
Total Cases Worldwide – 181,734,959
Total Deaths Worldwide – 3,936,280
Total Recovered Worldwide – 166,241,818
Total Active Cases Worldwide – 11,556,861 (6.4% of the total cases)
Total Closed Cases Worldwide – 170,178,098
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