Cyprus is lifting travel restrictions for the fully jabbed on Tuesday, with authorities reclassifying countries according to their epidemiological risk with rules applicable to passengers without a vaccination or recovery record.
The Health Ministry has reintroduced its safe travel categorisation of countries to facilitate the travel of unvaccinated passengers or those who do not hold a valid vaccination or a recovery certificate.
EU vaccination certificates are valid for nine months, and recovery certificates for six months.
Vaccinated people must have received one of the EU approved vaccines for travel purposes.
The list includes Janssen, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik V, Sinopharm, Sinovac, Covaxin, Sputnik Light (only as a booster dose), Novavax COVID-19 jabs.
Cyprus uses a three-coloured system (green, red, and grey) with unvaccinated passengers subjected to testing and restrictions according to their country of origin.
Under the new regulations, the previous green and orange categories will merge to correspond to the newly formed green category.
Countries designated as red and dark red by the ECDC will be listed in the grey category.
Unvaccinated travellers from countries slotted into the green category will have to take a PCR test no later than 72 hours before departure or a rapid antigen test 24 hours before departure.
Unvaccinated red category passengers must abide by the same testing rules as green category countries but must get a PCR test upon arrival at the airport.
The cost of which will be borne by the passenger.
Unvaccinated passengers, or those without a recovery certificate, over the age of six arriving from grey countries must carry a negative test, take a PCR upon arrival, and go into self-isolation for ten days or seven provided they test negative with a PCR test.
Arrivals are still required to complete the CyprusFlightPass within 48 hours before their flight and comply with random coronavirus tests at the airports.
Under the latest version of the safe travel list, authorities have reintroduced China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and Saudi Arabia into the green category.
No European Union country is included in Cyprus’ green list.
Green
- Third Countries: China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Saudi Arabia
Red
- European Union: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Hungary, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Finland
- Small states: Andorra, Monaco, Vatican City, San Marino
- Schengen Area: Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway
- Third Countries: Egypt, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Georgia, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, United Kingdom, Japan, Indonesia, Jordan, Israel, Canada, Qatar, Colombia, Leuven, Cuba, New Zealand, South Korea, Oman, Ukraine, Uruguay, Peru, Rwanda, Russia, Serbia, Chile
Grey
All countries not included in the green or red categories are placed in this category.
