In an effort to curb the possibility of a new wave of the Coronavirus disease in Finland, the Finnish government will reimpose the internal border restrictions for people coming from Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland. Not that only, the Finnish government will reimpose external border traffic between Finland and Algeria and Australia. These will be implemented on Monday, July 27.
The internal border restriction implies that people coming from Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland will be restricted from entering Finland until the spread rate changes. This was decided in a government meeting held on Thursday, July 23. The evaluation of the cases of the Coronavirus disease in these three EU countries revealed a rise in the number of confirmed cases.
An earlier decision of the Finish government lifted internal border control for travels to Finland from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Internal border control was later introduced for people coming to Finland from Czech Republic, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden (except for pleasure craft travel). This was to continue until August 11. The new additions to this list are Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland.
An update from the website of the Ministry of Interior, Finland states that “Restrictions on entry may be lifted for traffic between Finland and countries where the incidence of COVID-19 has not exceeded eight new cases per 100,000 persons in the previous 14 days. Alternatively, the lifting of internal border control and entry restrictions may be considered for countries with a maximum of 10 new cases of the disease per 100,000 persons in the previous 14 days. The Government has previously stated that if necessary, the lifted restrictions may be reinstated if the epidemic situation in a certain country deteriorates significantly.”
Also, some non-EU countries were earlier able to travel to Finland base on the recommendation from the EU council. Fifteen countries made the list earlier. However, Algeria and Australia were not able to keep their rate of infection and Finland has decided to reimpose travel restriction with these two countries. Non-EU countries that can enter Finland as of now are: Andorra, China (subject to reciprocity), Cyprus, Georgia, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, San Marino, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay and the Vatican
The decision on which country can and which country cannot enter Finland will be reviewed every two weeks. Countries that are unable to keep the rate of the Coronavirus disease may be removed from the list of entry.
