The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has revealed that the COVID-19 situation has improved in France, Portugal, and Iceland, though some areas within the EU still continue to be highly affected.
Based on the figures published by ECDC yesterday, September 16, Iceland and Portugal have registered less than 50 COVID-19 infection cases per 100,000 inhabitants and have had a test positivity rate of four per cent or more during the last 14 days. For that reason, they are now part of the orange list.
Apart from these two countries, the same has revealed that several regions of France are now coloured orange since the Coronavirus situation has slightly improved in their territory, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The regions of France that now are part of the orange list are as follows:
- New Aquitaine
- Pays de la Loire
- Brittany
- Normandy
- Nord Pas de Calais
- Loire Valley Center
- Burgundy-Franche-Comte
Moreover, except for the above-mentioned countries and regions, the following areas have also been listed as orange on this week’s map:
- Slovakia
- Regions of Spain: Galicia, Extremadura, Navarre, La Rioja
- Regions of Italy: Sardinia, Tuscany, Marche
Consequently, this means that travel to and from Portugal, Iceland, France, Slovakia, and all of the aforementioned regions that now are part of the orange list is no longer discouraged.
Nonetheless, travellers who have not been vaccinated or recovered from the COVID-19 disease may be required to follow strict entry restrictions. Those who have been vaccinated may also be required to undergo testing before or after arrival, depending on each country’s rules.
On the other hand, ECDC has suggested that stringent rules should apply to Latvia and Romania since they have been placed on the red list after registering more than 200 infection cases per 100,000 inhabitants during the last two weeks.
In the update of September 9, Romania was listed as an orange area, except for Transylvania, which was green.
In addition, three regions of Germany have also been listed as red this week:
As a result, Member States are highly advised to impose pre-departure testing and quarantine requirements for all persons arriving from red-listed countries and regions.
Furthermore, the EU Health Agency has advised that everyone refrains from travelling to and from the dark red-listed regions since they are highly affected by the COVID-19 disease.
The two following regions were listed as dark red in this week’s announcement:
- Region of France: Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
- Region of Norway: Viken
In contrast, regarding the green list, only the Spanish region of Asturias has been newly added to it. The green list already includes Czechia, Hungary, and Poland. Since these countries and the Spanish region have registered low infection cases, travel to these areas is safe.
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