Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Iceland change color in new Czech travel map

Lithuania will move into the dark-red group of countries at very high risk for Covid-19 according to the Czech Health Ministry's latest Covid-19 travel map, valid from Monday. Bulgaria, meanwhile, will move from dark red to high-risk red on the new map.

In addition to Bulgaria, the Azores will also move from very high risk to high risk.

Iceland will also change color, moving from low-risk green to medium-risk orange.

The higher the risk rating of a foreign country, the more difficult the conditions for Czech residents to return from them.

Currently, only those returning from very high risk (dark red) countries are required to take a Covid-19 test before departure. This category of states includes a small number of EU states and most non-EU countries, including the UK.

Those returning from dark red countries must take another test after the fifth day of their arrival at the earliest, and remain in self-quarantine until then.

Those returning from high risk (red) countries must take a PCR test within five days of their arrival.

Travelers from dark red, red, and orange countries must wear a respirator anytime they leave their residence, including outdoors, for two weeks.

None of the above requirements are valid for people returning from green countries with a low risk of infection. Among European states, this category only includes the Vatican. Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand are also in this group.

As of Monday, the red group will include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, the Canary Islands and the Azores.

Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, Portugal and the Balearic Islands will be in the orange group.

For the past 1.5 months, Czech residents have been banned from travelling to the countries with an extreme risk of the spread of new variants of coronavirus. These countries include Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Peru, South Africa,Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The ban is valid until the end of May.