In Europe, a complete end to any covid restrictions has come. Since May 16, the Austrian authorities, previously distinguished by their particularly zealous fight against Covid-19 and unvaccinated citizens, removed the last covid barriers: travelers from all over the world are allowed entry without restrictions, which put an end to the difficult conditions for the movement of tourists between European countries. The news about the cancellation of measures to combat coronavirus at the entrance was announced by the official tourism portal of Austria.
“Traveling to Austria is possible for tourism purposes. From May 16, confirmation of vaccination / recovery or a test is no longer needed, ”the portal said in a message.
In other words, tourists, regardless of their country of origin, can now travel to Austria for any purpose without presenting a valid certificate of vaccination, recovery or testing upon arrival. In addition, travelers are no longer required to fill out a pre-trip form. Recall that earlier this requirement applied to those who did not have any of the medical certificates.
In addition to lifting its entry rules, Austria has already lifted internal restrictions: tourists are no longer required to wear a protective mask or present a single 3G pass when visiting various public places and events, such as cafes, restaurants and hotels.
The Austrian authorities are believed to have decided to lift entry rules and have now opened the border to all travelers due to the country’s low infection rate. Thus, according to WHO information, 29,576 new cases of COVID-19 infection have been registered in Austria over the past seven days.
In addition, the portal indicates that Austria has a high percentage of vaccinations. As of May 12, 83.1% of the total adult population in the country received the first component of the vaccine, and 68.7% received an additional dose of the vaccine.
With the exception of Austria, another 15 EU/EEA countries have also already waived all of their COVID-19 entry rules. Among them: Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Switzerland. All travelers can enter the above countries without restrictions, even if they do not have a valid vaccination certificate, as well as a certificate of illness or a negative PCR test result. However, some popular European destinations, primarily Germany and Portugal, have retained the covid entry conditions.