Partial re-containment, travel ban or on the contrary lightening of restrictions … We take stock of the latest measures put in place in the main European countries in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic and its new variants.
[Mis à jour le 15 mars 2021 à 10h14] In Europe, Covid-19 and its new variants are divided between lifting certain restrictions in Portugal in the Nordic countries and strengthening measures in Italy and Spain. A total of 14 countries have imposed a curfew: France, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia, Italy and Spain.
While restaurants, bars and museums reopened in February, Italy is largely reconfiguring itself in an attempt to stem the third wave of the epidemic. Almost 40 million Italians are affected.
Managed by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), a unique map of red, green, orange and gray areas according to the contamination rate allows travelers to better navigate (available HERE and updated on March 11, 2021). In total, around twenty EU countries, including France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands and Italy appear in red because of their health situation. Only Iceland appears in green at the beginning of March. Norway, Finland, Sardinia, Sicily and some Spanish regions are in orange.
–
Please note: for more complete information on three very popular countries – Spain, Italy and Portugal – do not hesitate to consult our dedicated focuses. They include all the practical information to prepare your trip and live a serene vacation, even in this delicate period:
The Spanish government has decreed, for the entire national territory with the exception of the Canaries, a new state of health alert until May 9, 2021. If no quarantine is in effect upon entry into the Spain, however, requires travelers from 65 “countries at risk”, including France, to present a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours on arrival in Spain. This measure applies “at the points of entry” in the country, that is to say the airports and the ports, the land borders not being currently subjected to controls as during the first wave of the pandemic. Children under the age of six and travelers in transit are not affected by this measure.
- . In Madrid, everything is open: bars, restaurants, cultural places and museums. However, everything closes at 9 p.m. in the evening and a curfew is declared at 10 p.m. The terraces are taken by storm while the discos are also open.
- Wearing a mask is compulsory for anyone over 6 years old, on public transport, in public spaces or in places open to the public, including hotels and shops, when a distance of one meter fifty is not can be respected between two people.
- Any passenger wishing to travel to Spain by plane must complete a personal and non-transferable form: once this form has been completed and signed, the traveler will receive a QR code associated with his trip that he must keep on his mobile phone or print in order to be able to pass the airport health control.
Italy, which has just passed 100,000 deaths from Covid-19, is three quarters confined from Monday, March 15. Regions registering more than 250 new cases per week per 100,000 inhabitants automatically go into “red zone” and must apply new restrictions: closure of schools, colleges, high schools and universities, as well as bars and restaurants except for sale to carry. Travel is limited to work requirements, the purchase of basic necessities and health emergencies.
The large northern regions (Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna), as well as Lazio (the region of Rome) and Puglia (the heel of the Boot in the south), thus join the southern regions of Campania (Naples ), Basilicata and Molise in red. The other regions of the peninsula are in the “orange zone”: schools remain open and travel is allowed only in its municipality, but restaurants and bars are closed except for take-away or deliveries according to La Repubblica. Only Sardinia escapes these restrictions. The Italian government has also announced that the whole country will be classified in “red” from April 3 to 5, during the Easter weekend.
Germany decided to tighten border controls with the Moselle while restrictions were already in place for the Czech Republic and Austrian Tyrol. The country has toughened its measures with the closure of schools and non-essential businesses such as hairdressers, confinement has been extended until March 28. Find the latest information on the new measures implemented in the main European countries in the face of the pandemic of coronavirus.
Germany, at the cost of drastic restrictions for many weeks, has managed to lower the incidence rate across the country and limit the rise in contamination. The population must now wear medical masks in shops and public transport, and a ban on travel more than 15 km from home is imposed in cities exceeding the incidence rate of 200 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants In a week.
Belgium has toughened its tone in the face of the resurgence of the pandemic. Since Wednesday January 27 and until April 1, 2021, the country has prohibited its population from non-essential travel abroad – including within the European Union. Controls with fines will be put in place at the borders. Frontier workers are not affected by the ban.
Passengers arriving at Belgian airports from France are subject to a seven-day quarantine, with mandatory tests for Covid-19 on the first and seventh day. Exceptions are made for essential workers, students having to take exams and residents who have gone abroad for professional reasons. All travelers going to Belgium, regardless of the means of transport used, must complete the Passenger Location Form.
Deploring nearly 122,000 deaths, the worst death toll in Europe, the United Kingdom is counting on mass vaccination to get out of the containment put in place since January to contain a new very virulent wave of the coronavirus, attributed to a more contagious variant that has appeared in the south of England.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he hopes for a return to near-normal for the summer, by presenting a strategy of deconfinement. Pupils aged 5 to 11 returned to school on Monday March 8 and will be followed in a more staggered manner the following week by middle and high school students. From March 29, the order to stay at home will be lifted and outdoor gatherings, limited to six people or two different households, will be authorized. Non-essential stores, hairdressers, pubs – but only outdoors – and museums will have to wait until April 12. Cinemas, hotels, stadiums (with a maximum of 10,000 people), hotels and restaurants (indoors) will follow on May 17, the date on which members of different households can meet indoors. If the health situation allows, restrictions on social contacts will be lifted on June 21 at the earliest.
The Dutch government strongly advises against traveling abroad before April 16, especially in regions affected by Covid-19 (regions classified “orange” or “red” in the typology observed by the Dutch authorities) and requests the home quarantine for ten days to travelers upon arrival in the Netherlands.
Passengers traveling to the Netherlands by air must complete a health declaration form before boarding. In the event that a traveler exhibits any of the symptoms listed in the health declaration form, they will not be accepted on the flight. This is also applicable for transit passengers.
The Portuguese government announced the reopening of nurseries, primary schools and certain non-essential businesses (hairdressing salons, booksellers, libraries …) from Monday March 15, the first step in its plan to lift measures against Covid- 19. At the beginning of April, it will be the turn of colleges, terraces, cafes and restaurants, as well as monuments and museums to reopen. High schools, universities, theaters and dining rooms, with a limit of four people per table, will reopen in mid-April, while large events will be allowed from May 3, with some restrictions.
Confinement – that is to say the obligation to stay at home except for the purchase of basic necessities and some other exemptions -, teleworking and traffic restrictions between municipalities on weekends are maintained until Easter, April 4. Border controls with Spain remain in force until the beginning of April.
What conditions must be respected in Greece?
The confinement, already extended several times and which was due to end on March 8, will be extended again until March 16 in Greece, accompanied by reinforced measures for residents who will no longer be able to leave the borders of their municipality even to shop. or physical exercise.
All travelers, regardless of their nationality and origin, must complete a online form at least 48 hours before the trip. Above all, Greece requires that they present at boarding the results written in English of a negative test for the coronavirus (RT-PCR) of less than 72 hours for all arrivals. The Covid-19 PCR test is not required for children born in 2011 and later. Random screening for the virus may be requested upon arrival of travelers which, if it is positive, leads to a 14-day quarantine (at least 7 days for contact cases) in a structure designated by the health authorities.
–
