The Health Ministry on Monday announced its new classification of countries based on their epidemiological condition which affects travellers from those countries coming to Cyprus.
The new rankings which come into effect on Thursday have Poland and Romania upgraded from Orange to Green, Japan moved from Red to Orange and Croatia falling from Orange to Red.
The categories are in line with the guidelines of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
The countries are ranked based on the weekly evaluation of the ECDC and in cases of countries not assessed by the European Centre, this evaluation is done by the Health Ministry.
Green category travellers have no restrictions.
- EU Member states:Â Malta, Poland, Romania
- Schengen Zone countries:Â 1) Iceland
- Third Countries: Αustralia, New Zealand, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Israel
Travellers from countries in the Orange category require a negative PCR test certificate not older than 72 hours prior to departure while those coming from Red category regions require two negative PCR tests, one within 72 hours before departure and another upon arrival in Cyprus.
No self-isolation measures apply in this category.
- EU member states:Â Portugal, Ireland, Finland, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Spain, Luxembourg
- Schengen Zone countries:Â Norway
- Third Countries:Â China (including Hong Kong and Macau), United Kingdom, United States of America, Japan
Passengers from Grey, or special permit category, countries, must submit a negative PCR test not older than 72 hours before departure and must self-isolate upon arrival in accordance with the instructions of the health ministry.
The ministry said the categorisation of countries, based on the epidemiological risk assessment, is extremely dynamic and may be modified at any moment as the pandemic evolves and the epidemiological data changes.
