New COVID-19 Rules Keep Travel To-From Balkans Limited

Measures to enter some Balkan and European countries have been tightened in the last 30 days as the number of newly registered COVID-19 cases increases, making travel to and from the region a complicated affair.

Albania has introduced conditions for entering the country for the first time since the pandemic started. It is now mandatory to have confirmation of a vaccine, a negative PCR or positive serological test or confirmation of recovery from COVID-19. Otherwise, quarantine is mandatory on arrival, for 10 days.

Montenegro's new rules, which start on Tuesday, say all vaccinated arrivals need to prove that at least 14 days have passed since their vaccination. Unvaccinated arrivals must present a negative PCR not older than 72 hours, a positive PCR test more than 14 days old and no older than 180 days, or a negative rapid antigen test not older than 48 hours.

North Macedonia's rules for entry are that passengers have to submit either confirmation of a vaccination, or a negative PCR test, or a certificate showing that they had COVID-19 at least 45 days before entering the country.

From Wednesday, Serbia will join Bulgaria's "red" list, where Kosovo and Montenegro have already been since the end of August. Entry from red-zone countries is allowed only to passengers with vaccination confirmation and only to citizens from the EU, the European Economic Area or Switzerland.

Photo: EPA/GEORGI LICOVSKI, Unsplash/Markus Winkler, Unsplash/Mikhail | luxkstn, Unsplash/Lucijan Blagonic, Unsplah/Dim Hou, EPA/VALDRIN XHEMAJ, EPA/BORIS PEJOVIC, EPA/GEORGI LICOVSKI, EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT, Unsplash/Ivan Aleksic and Unslplash/Meric Dagli

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