Covid-19: Austria bans Bulgaria flights, Greece resumes travel form issuance
Austria has banned flights from 10 countries, Bulgaria among them, from July 15 until July 31, due to rising numbers of coronavirus cases, Bulgarian National Television reported on July 14.
This new restriction comes after Austria last week raised Bulgaria’s risk level, requiring all arrivals to quarantine for 14 days unless they present a negative PCR test taken no more than four days before travelling to Austria.
The countries affected by the flight ban were Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Egypt, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia, the BNT report said. The existing ban on flights from eight other countries – a list that includes China, Russia, Sweden, Portugal and the UK – was also extended.
Meanwhile, Greek authorities have resumed the issuance of passenger location forms for travellers arriving by land through the Kulata-Promachonas checkpoint on the Bulgarian-Greek border, which was suspended in recent days to implement changes to the country’s non-essential travel protocol.
Starting July 15 at 6am local time (GMT +3), holidaymakers travelling to Greece by land will have to show proof of a negative molecular test result (PCR) for Covid-19, performed up to 72 hours prior to entering Greece.
The new requirement was initially scheduled to go into effect on July 14, but its introduction was later postponed by 24 hours.
The requirement is part of the updated travel protocols introduced by Greek authorities as of July 1. Travellers are still required to submit mandatory passenger location forms, which can be found here (in English), and could also be asked to undertake a PCR test at the border.
For the rest of The Sofia Globe’s continuing coverage of the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria, please click here.
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