Self-isolation limit updated, Estonia starts to reinflate 'Baltic bubble'

Take note – story published 3 years ago

The Center for Disease Prevention and Control (SPKC) updated its statistics October 16, determining that in future self-isolation will be required when entering Latvia from countries with a 14-day cumulative Covid-19 incidence rate per 100,000 of population above 61.9. 

Consequently it is now possible to enter Latvia from countries with a lower infection rate than Latvia without the need for 10 days of self-isolation. The European countries that qualify for this are Greece, Norway, Estonia, Finland and Cyprus.

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This list is valid from 17 October to 25 October for self-isolation requirements and from 19 October for passenger transport.

However, SPKC specialists recommend that you carefully consider the need to go abroad and assess the risks to your own and your relatives' health, without exposing them to the risk of infection.

As COVID-19 rates of infection are still increasing across Europe, nearly all European countries are now on the "red list" of countries to which a visit is strongly advised against. All red list countries require ten days of self-isolation.

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 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.

Estonian officials said Friday that no self-isolation would be required for Latvian residents visiting Estonia, provided they have had a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours in advance of arrival in Estonia.

"Estonia wishes to restore the common movement zone between the Baltic states and Finland, since the COVID-19-related epidemiological situation is similar in the region, and a common movement zone creates an opportunity to keep life as normal as possible in the region. The recommendation to only travel in the case of unavoidable need is still in effect; this is especially topical considering the upcoming school holiday," said an Estonian government release.

The Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu stated that in the current situation, it is very important to revive regional cooperation. “Today, each Baltic state and Finland has their separate model on how countries impose quarantines against one another. For this reason, life in the region is becoming fragmented, and Estonia’s interest is to restart cooperation between our countries,” he said. “Estonia wishes to be the leader here and to establish an exception for travelling in the region that would not interrupt the inevitable everyday relations on a human level.”

In situations where the infection rate of countries is higher than 1.1x the Estonian average, or above 50, a person is allowed to come to Estonia from Latvia, Lithuania or Finland without the self-isolation obligation, if the person has taken a coronavirus test within 48 hours before arriving to Estonia, and the result of the test has been negative and the person must not have travelled outside the Baltic states or Finland in the past two weeks.
 

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