The latest updates of Covid-19 and traveling from the European peninsula

When Omicron broke out, one of the first regions to get affected by the new variant was also one of the most packed zones in terms of population –Europe. Several countries within the European continent were adversely impacted due to the sudden surge in cases led by a wholly new viral variant. This forced the countries to quickly act on curtailing further spread, which included stringent travel restrictions imposed that barred entry for arrivals from several destinations.

After South Africa first detected and alerted the rest of the world of the highly contagious Omicron variant, the region got heavily affected as several countries found themselves in "red lists". This meant that nationals and other outbound travelers from these countries were either restricted from entry to many international destinations or had to follow through with stricter screening procedures.

Now, as global health organizations and agencies proactively attempt to curb the spread of the Covid-19 contagion through stronger vaccination efforts and screening attempts, the resurgence of positive cases has started to slow down.

But what are the current updates?

One of the latest major changes includes European Union’s (EU) recommendation which stated that from February 1 onward, anyone traveling from within the European bloc will need only a basic “green pass” health certificate which can be obtained via vaccination, recovery, or a recent negative PCR/Covid test, and remove the need for self-isolation.

Although the EU has released the verdict, many countries from the bloc are still placing a foot strongly on keeping true to stringent measures as they said that they are not likely to adopt the new rule.

Updates from countries

Greece has recently removed testing requirements for vaccinated travelers, which became effective from Monday, February 7, 2022 onwards. As for the United Kingdom, face masks are no longer mandatory even though its recommended.

Since February 2, travelers to the Netherlands with the booster vaccine dosage are no longer required to quarantine while both Denmark and Norway lifted all domestic travel restrictions a day earlier on first of this month.

However, while Switzerland and Austria have relaxed travel restrictions for UK travelers, Sweden on the other hand dropped the requirement for proof of a negative test from arrivals.