The Bulgarian authorities have announced that the country will impose more stringent entry restrictions for all persons entering its territory as well as ban entry for travellers from some COVID-19 highly affected third countries.

The new measures on entry restrictions will enter into force on May 1 and will be effective until the end of May, worldwidecollege.in reports.

In a press release issued by the Minister of Health, it was explained that the country will temporarily ban entry to all arrivals from India, Brazil, Bangladesh, and several other countries in Africa, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Namibia.

All Bulgarian citizens entering the territory after staying in one of the countries that are prohibited entry must stay self-isolated for ten days, at home or at an adequate accommodation.

“For the purposes of this order, the country (territory) from which the person arrives is the country (territory) – the starting point of his departure, regardless of the stay related to his transit through other countries during his movement,” the Ministry’s press release reads.

Furthermore, all those entering the territory of Bulgaria, regardless of their citizenship, are allowed entry if they present the following documents:

• A document that shows completed vaccination against the COVID-19 provided that at least 14 days have passed since the last dose of the vaccine was taken.
• A certificate that shows a negative test result.
• A certificate that shows recovery from the Coronavirus, 15 to 180 days prior to the arrival.

If the conditions set out by the authorities are met, citizens of the UK, Australia, Canada, the United States, Japan, New Zealand, China, Rwanda, Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, United Arab Emirates, North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Moldova, Russia, Israel, Kuwait, Belarus, and Turkey will be permitted entry.

Additionally, permanent residents of Bulgaria and those that have a residence permit in an EU or Schengen Area country along with their family members are allowed to enter Bulgaria, provided that they present a negative PCR test result not older than 72 hours or a negative antigen test result not older than 48 hours.

On the other hand, it was pointed out that the following persons are allowed to enter the country without having to present any COVID-19 related documents:

• Bus drivers carrying passengers on international routes
• Truck drivers transporting goods
• Vessel crews performing official duties
• Aircraft crews and persons engaged in aircraft maintenance
• Frontier workers
• Students and pupils who live in neighbouring countries that travel at least once a week for study purposes and vice versa.

Based on Worldometers’ figures, up to this date, Bulgaria has registered a total of 403,729 COVID-19 cases, 16,368 deaths, and it currently numbers 49,048 active cases.

Similar to Bulgaria, Belgium aso banned arrivals from India, Brazil, and South Africa due to the high infection rate and the new mutations in these territories.