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One of the drawbacks travelers may face, despite the possibility of an EU ‘green passport’, is that some countries are tightening the rules as the delta breed spreads. And in this place the situation is changing fast enough.
This week it was announced that in Portugal, as the coronavirus crisis intensified to curb the growing number of infections, the government decided to reintroduce a curfew in regions where the situation is particularly bad. The government of this country has also restricted opening hours and the number of customers in restaurants in some cities.
Fearing a delta variety, the Czech Republic is tightening its entry rules. According to government plans, starting July 9, all arrivals will have to register online, a spokesperson confirmed on Friday.
If a person is not fully vaccinated, they will also have to give a negative PCR test result, regardless of their country of origin. The details of the new regulation are not yet known. Until now, entry to the Czech Republic from the so-called “green” countries was restricted. Another major change will take effect from July 9: only people 14 days after the required doses will be considered fully vaccinated. Until now, this was valid three weeks after the first vaccination.
Outside of the European Union, Israel is returning to masks in closed public spaces as the number of cases increases.
People are willing to travel
Žydrė Gavelienė, president of the National Association of Tourism Companies, understands from the flow of calls that people who are preparing to travel have many questions about the prevalence of tests, the COVID digital certificate of the European Union (EU), the varieties.
“Only two out of ten calls are due to the travel itself, all the others are due to all kinds of documents, requirements, be it safe or unsafe to obtain a digital certificate. The fact that there is a lack of information in Lithuania on how to travel correctly, in regards to documents, vaccinations, tests. As a result, tour operators are overloaded with that work, ”Ž said. Gavelienė.
A spokeswoman for the tour operator noted that a lot of people were traveling.
“We have so many consultations today that it is difficult for us to find hands, to look for outsiders to help. But we don’t know how long it will last,” Ž said. Gavelienė.
Recommend insuring and traveling with a tour operator.
According to the head of the National Association of Tourist Companies, those who want to travel abroad, in addition to how to obtain a European certificate, should know two more things.
“You always need travel insurance. Forever! Although we have insurance, which is the so-called insurance of our credit card, we recommend insuring the insurance of the country that has a risk of COVID.
For example, one of the most popular destinations now is Madeira. They have their own Madeira insurance. It really costs little, about twenty euros a week, but there you are insured to the maximum against everything: since your doctor will come for the test and everything else, it will cost you nothing. And other countries have such a ban “Ž. Gavelienė.
The second thing, according to the interlocutor, is that the information about a particular country should be verified periodically.
“We as tour operators do that every day. Something changes, we receive notifications. From that point of view, today it is safer to buy trips through a tour operator.
On the one hand, this is due to the verification of the information. On the other hand, tour operators have many obligations that if the situation in the country changes and becomes risky, they must return the money to travelers, or bring it immediately if the situation becomes so bad that there is a risk, “he said. Ž. Gavelienė.
The president of the National Association of Tourism Companies said that he would advise anyone who wants to travel: “We only fly direct flights, only to” green “countries, we hire insurance and we do everything through a tour operator.”
The interlocutor said that there are no direct flights to countries like Portugal.
“Tour operators do not transport to any problem country. Today, people face a lot of problems when buying an indirect flight, as is the case with Lufthansa today.
Despite being “green” on Madeira, they banned all flights from Portugal. This means that customers who have been in transit through Frankfurt cannot continue traveling, ”said Ž. Gavelienė.
Is the flight itself safe?
The tour operator representatives do not see a particular problem with the flight itself.
“It is safe to be in an environment where everyone is tested. To this day, if we go to the store or are somewhere, we do not believe that everyone around us has been evaluated. Today, it is not up to the airport and the plane not to be examined or vaccinated.
There is strict supervision both during the flight and at the airport, as well as in the so-called transport, there is strict supervision and you will not be left without a mask ”, Ž said. Gavelienė.
Mindaugas Stankūnas, a professor at the Faculty of Public Health at the Lithuanian Health Sciences University (LSMU), could not say with such confidence that flying by plane was 100% safe when it came to the virus.
“It just came to our knowledge then. (…) There are examples of a virus that is transmitted in such a situation, that it becomes infected. Of course, the measures applied greatly reduce the risk, but we cannot really say that it eliminates it completely. ”Said M. Stankūnas.
The fear is that when they return, they will bring strains of the virus.
In general, the large flows of travelers abroad are worrying, with the advice of professionals helping to manage the pandemic in groups of experts. They would be inclined to advise people to choose a holiday in Lithuania.
Even if the health of fully vaccinated people should not pose a special risk when they travel, they fear that they may carry various strains of the virus when they return to Lithuania.
“They can carry (virus strains). They need to monitor responsibly and avoid contact as much as possible when they return for at least a week. People shouldn’t think only of themselves.
After all, if people travel with families, children are not vaccinated. They can carry asymptomatic infections. Especially if you come back before September 1, those children will come to schools and spread, there is a risk here, ”said Aurelija Žvirblienė, senior researcher at the Vilnius University Life Sciences Center (VU), professor at the Faculty of VU Medicamento.
LSMU professor M. Stankūnas, seeing the development of the situation due to the delta variety, urged people to consider a holiday in Lithuania.
“And if you are already traveling, you should definitely choose those countries where there is not only a ‘green’ situation, but also to observe the spread of the delta variety,” said M. Stankūnas.
You can check what is the situation due to the prevalence of the delta variety here.
However, the professor noted that the situation is changing rapidly, making it difficult to predict what it will be like in a month.
“Let’s personally say that we are on vacation in mid-August. And we don’t even imagine what we’ll do as the situation changes. We don’t really buy trips neither in Lithuania nor abroad, maybe we would like to leave, even close to here. But the situation is such that it is calm now, but it is not clear what will happen in August. I couldn’t really say, “buy a ticket a month ago and feel calm”, (…) there is a lot of uncertainty ”, said M. Stankūnas.
He himself stated that he and his family often spend these holidays in Lithuania.
“It just came to our attention then. I also think that our country’s economy, the tourism sector, has suffered from the restrictions imposed by the quarantine, so maybe even on the patriotic side, at least some of the holidays could happen in Lithuania to support our tourism sector, the economy, our people, ”said M. Stankūnas.
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