Web Desk
ROME : Starting from today, June 1, travellers from all over the world will be able to enter Italy restriction-free as the latter has decided to drop all of its COVID-19 entry rules.
The decision to lift the entry rules was announced by the Italian Ministry of Health earlier this week, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“The ordinance of the Minister of Health which provides for the Green Certification Covid-19 (green pass) to enter Italy expires on May 31. The measure will not be extended,” the Ministry wrote on its official website on May 30.
Now that the COVID-19 entry rules have been officially dropped, all travellers, regardless if they are reaching Italy from an EU or non-EU country, will no longer be required to present a vaccination, recovery, or test certificate upon their arrival.
It is believed that the Italian authorities decided to remove their entry rules after concluding that the virus no longer causes serious health implications as well as after taking into account the low infection rates and the high vaccination rates.
The World Health Organisation data show that Italy has recorded 130,994 new COVID infection cases in the last seven days.
As for the vaccination rates, the most recent data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, that has been lastly updated on May 19, shows Italy administered 136,206,350 Coronavirus vaccine doses.
Of the total adult population, 87.4 per cent of them have completed primary vaccination, and 77.3 per cent of them have received an additional vaccine dose.
Apart from easing travel rules, Italy already dropped the mask requirement earlier in May. Since May 1, all persons have been exempt from the requirement to wear a face mask when accessing restaurants, bars, museums, and other public places and events.
Nonetheless, the Italian authorities have emphasised that the mask requirement still remains valid for those taking flights as well as for those using other forms of public transport. They said that FFP2 masks must be worn until June 15 on all long-distance public transport.
Except for Italy, several other countries have also dropped all of their entry rules. The list of countries that have dropped their entry rules until now includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland.
All of these countries permit restriction-free entry to all travellers. They no longer ask for COVID proof.
Courtesy: schengenvisainfo.com
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