Travel restrictions: Bulgaria amends Covid colour-coding list of foreign countries
Bulgaria’s Health Minister Assena Serbezova has issued an order amending the list categorising foreign countries, that determines rules for arrivals from them.
The changes take effect as of February 17.
Countries reclassified as red zones include France, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, Cyprus, the Maldives, Belarus, Russia and Japan.
The red zone list of countries and territories, in full, is the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Albania, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Germany, Gibraltar, Grenada, Greenland, Greece, Dominica, Iran, Spain, Italy, Jordan, Cyprus, Suriname, Serbia, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary, Uruguay, Finland, Kiribati, Kosovo, Costa Rica, Kuwait, Curaçao, Libya, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Maldives, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Norway, Oman, the Isle of Man, the Palestinian authority, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Saba, San Marino, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the Seychelles, Singapore, Sint Eustatius, France, French Polynesia, Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan.
A person arriving from a red zone country may be admitted to Bulgaria on presenting a valid EU Digital Covid Certificate – or equivalent or similar document – of vaccination, having undergone Covid-19, or of a PCR or antigen test.
Bulgarian citizens and people with permanent or long-term residence in the country, and their families, who do not present any of these documents will be placed in 10-day quarantine.
This quarantine may be lifted if the person presents a negative result of a PCR or antigen test done no earlier than 72 hours after arriving in Bulgaria.
As of February 17, added to the list of foreign countries and territories classified as dark red zones are the Netherlands, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Cayman Islands, Bahrain, Georgia and New Caledonia.
The full dark red zone list is Afghanistan, Bahrain, Georgia, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Iceland, Cayman Islands, North Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Caledonia, Palau, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tanzania and the Faroe Islands.
A person arriving from a country classified as a dark red zone may be admitted to Bulgaria on presentation of a Digital Covid Certificate or similar document for vaccination or having undergone Covid-19 and a negative result of a PCR test done up to 72 hours before entering the country.
Those who have an EU Digital Covid Certificate or similar document for having received a booster dose will not be required to present a negative PCR test result.
Citizens, permanent and long-term residents of Bulgaria, and their families, who do not present any of these documents will be placed into 10-day quarantine.
Citizens, permanent and long-term residents of Bulgaria, and their families, who present only one of the documents will be placed into 10-day quarantine, which may be lifted if the person presents a negative result of a PCR test done no earlier than 72 hours after arriving in Bulgaria.
Children arriving 12 to 18 arriving from a dark red zone country may be admitted to Bulgaria on presentation of a valid EU Digital Covid Certificate, or equivalent or similar, for a negative result of a PCR test done up to 72 hours before arrival in Bulgaria. If they do not present such a document, they will be placed into 10-day quarantine, which may be lifted on presentation of a negative PCR test result done no earlier than 72 hours after arriving in Bulgaria.
As of February 1, in accordance with EU regulations, a digital certificate for a completed course of vaccination is valid up to the date of the end of the vaccination cycle.
A country not classified as either a dark red, red or green zone is regarded as an orange zone. The updated list issued by Serbezova does not classify any country as a green zone.
Requirements for those arriving from a country classified as a green or orange zone remain unchanged.
People arriving from countries within the orange zone are admitted to the territory of the country on presentation of either a valid EU Digital Covid Certificate of vaccination, or of recovery, or of a PCR test done up to 72 hours before entry to the country, or a negative antigen test done up to 48 hours before entry to the country; or a similar or equivalent document containing the same data as an EU Digital Covid Certificate, of vaccination, recovery or testing.
In the absence of such documents, the person shall be quarantined for 10 days at home or in another place of accommodation declared by the person.
The quarantined person may carry out a PCR test or a rapid antigen test no earlier than 72 hours of arrival in the country. If the result is negative, the quarantine of the person shall be considered terminated from the day of registration of the result in the National Information System for Combating Covid-19.
(Photo: Sofia Airport)
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