Cyprus waives testing for vaccinated travellers

Cyprus will waive a requirement for vaccinated passengers to present a PCR or rapid test before boarding a plane for the island from Monday, while all travel restrictions for the fully jabbed will be lifted on 1 March.

Cyprus will bring forward its new action plan for the tourist season.

Under the new rules, a current requirement for all passengers to carry a 24hour negative rapid or 72-hour PCR test will be waived for people carrying a valid vaccination certificate for COVID-19.

EU vaccination certificates are valid for nine months from the last shot.

During the week of 21 to 28 February, all passengers will be subjected to testing upon arrival at the airport.

Unvaccinated passengers will be subjected to testing and restrictions according to their country of origin.

Vaccinated and recovered people must carry proof of their status, a valid vaccination or recovery certificate issued by their home country.

Authorities will accept certificates indicating people have been vaccinated issued by an EU country or a third country.

Vaccinated people must have received one of the EU approved vaccines for travelling purposes.

The list includes Janssen, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik V, Sinopharm, Sinovac, Covaxin, Sputnik Light (only as a booster dose), Novavax COVID-19 jabs.

Passengers over 18 must have received a booster dose if a period of nine months has elapsed since their second dose.

If not, they will fall into the unvaccinated category.

Under the new rules, passengers who have recovered from the virus, regardless of whether their country is listed, will also have quarantine and tests waivered.

Cyprus will be accepting recovery certificates issued by EU member states and third countries included in the European Union COVID Certificate system.

In the case of a certificate of recovery, the travel date must not exceed 180 days from the first positive diagnosis.

From 21 February, countries will be put into three categories, Green, Red and Grey, based on their epidemiological situation as assessed by the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC).

Under the new regulations, the previous green and orange categories will merge to correspond to the newly formed Green category. Countries designated as red and dark red by the ECDC will be listed in the grey category.

Unvaccinated travellers from countries slotted into the green category will have to take a PCR test no later than 72 hours before departure or a rapid antigen test 24 hours before departure.

Unvaccinated red category passengers must abide by the same testing rules as green category countries but must get a PCR test upon arrival at the airport.

The cost of which will be borne by the passenger.

Unvaccinated passengers, or those without a recovery certificate, over the age of six arriving from grey countries must carry a negative test, take a PCR upon arrival, and go into self-isolation for 10 days or seven provided they test negative with a PCR test.

Passengers are still required to complete the CyprusFlightPass within 48 hours before their flight and comply with random coronavirus tests at the airports.