Vienna, Austria ranks among the Czech Republic's list of risk areas in the new list. Photo via iStock / CHUNYIP WONG
While the Czech Republic has previously measured COVID-19 risk in Europe via a “traffic light” system that designates low, medium, and high-risk status by country, from today the Czech Foreign Ministry has released a new regional list of risk that delves into more specific risk areas within European states.
While the previous list dictates official measures visitors and residents must take when coming to the Czech Republic – such as submitting a negative COVID-19 test on entry – the new regional list is instead provided as a recommendation to highlight areas of other countries that carry increased risk for potential travelers.
“Our recommendation does not mean that we exclude these countries from the list of safe countries,” Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček states.
“The aim is to warn our citizens that traveling to certain areas may be associated with an increased risk of infection. Just as local outbreaks are occurring in the Czech Republic, of course they will not be avoided in other countries as well.”
Here’s the Foreign Ministry’s full list of European travel destinations that carry increased risk of COVID-19, effective from today:
Austria
Upper Austria
Vienna
Bulgaria
Sofia
Varna
Plovdiv
Croatia
Vukovarsko
Zagreb
Osječko
Split – Dalmatia
However, foreign workers from both Sweden and Luxembourg, along with Bulgaria, Romania, and Portugal, are now required to submit a negative COVID-19 test on entry due to increased risk among foreign workers from these countries, according to the Czech Health Ministry.