Bulgaria’s amended rules on entry to country take effect on January 7
Bulgaria’s Health Minister Assena Serbezova issued an order in the early evening of January 5 on the amended rules on entry to the country that take effect on January 7.
From Friday, those arriving in Bulgaria from a country classified as a “red zone” will be required to present a valid EU Digital Covid Certificate of vaccination or of having undergone Covid-19, or a similar document, along with a negative result of a PCR test done up to 72 hours before entry.
Citizens of Bulgaria, permanent and long-term residents and their family members who do not present these documents will be allowed into the country but will have to go into mandatory 10-day quarantine. The quarantine may not be cut short.
Citizens of Bulgaria, permanent and long-term residents and their family members who present only one of these documents will also have to go into 10-day quarantine, which can be revoked if the person presents a negative result of a PCR test performed no earlier than 72 hours after arrival in the country.
Serbezova’s order also amends the list of countries by colour-coding as of January 7.
The countries and territories classified as red zones are:
South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, Namibia, Zambia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Suriname, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Cuba, Dominican Republic, St Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Aruba, Curacao, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Sint Eustatius, Saba, Turks and Caicos, Bermuda, Cabo Verde, the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Italy, San Marino, Monaco, France, Spain, Andorra, Portugal, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Montenegro, Malta, Cyprus and Greece.
Romania and Vatican City State are classified as green zones.
Countries that are neither red nor green zones are deemed to be orange zones.
The Bulgarian Health Ministry’s current criteria for classifying a country as a Covid-19 red, orange or green zone may be found in English here. (the green, orange and red zone lists in that November 26 order are amended by the January 5 order).
Serbezova’s order also contains a list of countries and territories whose certificates of vaccination, test results and of having undergone Covid-19 are recognised as equivalent to the EU Digital Covid Certificate:
The Republic of North Macedonia, San Marino, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican City State (only in regard to vaccination certificates), Andorra, Albania, the Faroe Islands, Monaco, Panama, Morocco, the State of Israel, Armenia, the United Kingdom, El Salvador, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Cabo Verde, Uruguay, Tunisia, Thailand, Taiwan and Montenegro.
(Photo of Sofia Airport: Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry press centre)
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