Coronavirus: Poland and Romania upgraded to Green

Poland and Romania were upgraded to Green on Monday as the health ministry announced its classification of countries based on their epidemiological condition, affecting travellers from those countries coming to Cyprus.

The new rankings come into effect on Thursday.

A ministry statement in addition to Poland and Romania being upgraded from Orange to Green, Japan will move from Red to Orange.

Croatia has fallen from Orange to Red, the ministry said.

The categories are in line with the guidelines of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

The health ministry ranks countries based on the weekly evaluation of the ECDC. In cases of countries not assessed by the ECDC, this evaluation is done by the health ministry.

Green category travellers have no restrictions.

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.

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.