Austria to relax international travel rules from March
Austria's government on Wednesday announced a further relaxation to rules on entering the country, in addition to a plan for removing most remaining domestic Covid-19 measures.
At the moment, the basic rule for entry to Austria is 2G+, which means that regardless of which country you travel on, you need proof of either full vaccination against Covid-19 or a recent recovery, as well as either a booster dose or a negative PCR test.
But Austria has now announced the lifting of almost all its Covid restrictions on March 5th, and this will also affect international travel.
READ ALSO: Austria to remove most Covid restrictions from March 5th
The 2G+ rule will be replaced with a general 3G rule as of February 22nd, according to the government, meaning that travellers need one of the following: proof of full vaccination, proof of recovery, or a negative test.
That opens up travel for unvaccinated travellers and means that people yet to receive a booster no longer need to take a test if they have proof of 2G. This affects children from countries which have only offered one or two doses to children, for example.
The government has said that 'virus variant' countries will be subject to stricter rules. At the moment, there are no countries on the virus variant risk list but this could change as new variants of the virus emerge.
In the past, measures for virus variant countries have varied: for example, when Omicron first spread, Austria issued a landing ban for ten African countries and banned travel for those not in an exempt category, but travel from the UK and three other European countries was still permitted for any purpose if travellers could meet the 2G+ requirement, although all countries were on the same list. The virus variant list was scrapped in late January.
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At the moment, the basic rule for entry to Austria is 2G+, which means that regardless of which country you travel on, you need proof of either full vaccination against Covid-19 or a recent recovery, as well as either a booster dose or a negative PCR test.
But Austria has now announced the lifting of almost all its Covid restrictions on March 5th, and this will also affect international travel.
READ ALSO: Austria to remove most Covid restrictions from March 5th
The 2G+ rule will be replaced with a general 3G rule as of February 22nd, according to the government, meaning that travellers need one of the following: proof of full vaccination, proof of recovery, or a negative test.
That opens up travel for unvaccinated travellers and means that people yet to receive a booster no longer need to take a test if they have proof of 2G. This affects children from countries which have only offered one or two doses to children, for example.
The government has said that 'virus variant' countries will be subject to stricter rules. At the moment, there are no countries on the virus variant risk list but this could change as new variants of the virus emerge.
In the past, measures for virus variant countries have varied: for example, when Omicron first spread, Austria issued a landing ban for ten African countries and banned travel for those not in an exempt category, but travel from the UK and three other European countries was still permitted for any purpose if travellers could meet the 2G+ requirement, although all countries were on the same list. The virus variant list was scrapped in late January.
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