As there are no direct flights from Rīga to the Vatican City -- for obvious reasons -- the exclusion is more technical than practical, as transit passengers must also observe self-isolation.
The news was released by the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (SPKC) in its regular Friday afternoon update.
As COVID-19 rates of infection are increasing across Europe, most European countries are now on the "red list" of countries where a visit is strongly advised against. All red list countries require ten days of self-isolation.
The "yellow list" of countries with a medium risk to health but which also require self-isolation upon return includes three countries: Liechtenstein, Cyprus and Finland.
Only the Vatican and Latvia itself make the "white list".
For non-European countries, the requirement for self-isolation no longer applies to Uruguay, Japan, South Korea, Rwanda, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.
The list is based upon the 14-day cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in each country. This list is valid from 26 September to 2 October.
International passenger transport is allowed only to European countries where the cumulative incidence rate does not exceed twice the EU average.
The full list of countries classed as "red" or "yellow" is available at the SPKC website, in English, Latvian and Russian, along with advice on how to follow the self-isolation rules and the conditions applying to all persons, be they Latvian nationals or other nationalities.
We have also attached the list in PDF format to this story for your convenience.
