QCOSTARICA – The Government of Italy announced Tuesday the lifting of health quarantines and other restrictions for Costa Ricans to enter their country.
The change will take effect on March 1 when the new health provisions will be equated to the rest of the European Union (EU), according to the Italian Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza.
“As of March 1, for arrivals from all foreign countries the same rules that are already in force for European countries will apply,” the official wrote in his Facebook account.
For Costa Ricans and citizens of nations outside the EU, this means that they will be able to enter if they present a complete vaccination certificate, a certificate of recovery from the virus or a PCR or antigen test with a negative result, Speranza added.
The announcement by the Italian government comes a day after the European Council authorized travel for non-essential reasons (tourism, for example) from third countries to the European community bloc.
“Member states must lift the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU for people vaccinated with a vaccine approved by the EU or the World Health Organization (WHO), provided that they have received the last dose of the primary vaccination series at least 14 days and no more than 270 days before their arrival or have received a booster dose,” the entity announced on Monday.
Similarly, EU members must also lift the temporary restriction on non-essential travel for people who have recovered from covid-19 within 180 days of traveling to the EU. All these recommendations of the Council should come into force from next month.
Recently, another requirement that had been requested of 100% vaccinated Costa Ricans and citizens of other nations. The appearance of the omicron variant led the European bloc and neighboring countries to request travelers, regardless of their vaccination status, a PCR or antigen test with a negative result no more than 72 or 48 hours before arriving at the destination, depending on the country. visited.
From now on, travelers with their vaccinations up to date will simply have to present a certificate of a complete inoculation scheme and fill out a health entry form in which they confirm their vaccinations, marks, dates, travel records and contact details.
France eliminated the request for tests with a negative result since February 12. Other countries that have also eliminated test requests since the end of January are Germany, Spain, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Croatia, Lebanon, Egypt, and Greece.
