Unvaccinated Australians finally permitted to travel overseas without exemption

From 18 April 2022, all Australian citizens and permanent residents, including the unvaccinated, will be able to leave Australia without an individual travel exemption, greekcitytimes.com reports.

Elsewhere, vaccinated Australians and permanent residents may enter New Zealand if they have had a negative pre-departure test.

On arrival, they must self-test for Covid-19, and unless it comes back positive for the virus, there is no requirement to enter quarantine or self-isolation.

Wednesday marks the first step in re-welcoming international visitors back to the country – a long wait for many, which was evident as family and friends greeted arrivals with tears and embraces, to the backdrop of waiata (Māori song).

For their part, health experts are predicting this week’s Easter period could see a surge in undetected cases of COVID-19, as more Australians prepare to travel during the long weekend.

It was announced on Monday that Greece will become the 30th nation to remove Covid-related entry requirements for all travelers, including those from the US, Canada, and the UK.

The new rules are scheduled to go into effect on May 2, 2022, according to local reports released earlier this week.

If you don’t have a vaccination certificate, you won’t have to worry about any internal restrictions throughout Greece come summer. On top of removing all travel restrictions for international arrivals, Greece will also be scrapping all internal vaccine passport requirements from May 2nd until September.

Only last week, officials in Greece indicated that they would be making it easier for fully vaccinated travelers from the US to visit the Republic this summer, but Monday’s announcement takes things one step further.

Currently, fully vaccinated travelers to Greece have to show proof of vaccination in order to enter Greece test-free. This will allow them to cross the land or air border as well as travel internally throughout the Republic.

The testing requirement for fully vaccinated US and Canadian travelers was removed in February of this year.

Unvaccinated international travelers, they must show either a negative rapid antigen test result took 24 hours of arrival to Greece or a PCR test 72 hours from arrival. There’s also the possibility that some travelers will be required to take a rapid antigen test upon arrival.

As for the internal vaccine passport system, the current rules state that travelers must carry proof of vaccination, proof of full recovery from Covid, or a negative Covid test result in order to enter most public spaces throughout Greece. The Covid test result must be a PCR from 72 hours of entry or an antigen test 48 hours from entry.

Based on Greece’s official tourism board, this includes all tourist accommodations and most outdoor public spaces including outdoor dining and live events.

For indoor public spaces, the rules are a little more rigid. In order to access services such as restaurants, bars, cafes, and museums, all patrons must present either proof of recovery from Covid (from 6 months or less) or proof of full vaccination.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

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