Travelers from France, Ireland will need COVID-19 test as of Monday

People coming to the Czech Republic from France and Ireland will have to submit a coronavirus test as of Monday, the Czech Health Ministry announced on Friday. The two countries will again turn red on the Czech traffic light travel map as of next week.

On the contrary, people coming from Belgium, Bulgaria, and Hungary will not need to submit the test, as these countries will turn from red to orange.

Most European countries are high-risk red on the travel map, which means that the rate of positive tests in the country is over 4 percent and the number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past two weeks is more than 250.

Travelers who spend more than 12 hours in red countries over the past 14 days have to fill in an arrival form before entering the Czech Republic. After arrival, they have to take a PCR test within five days and have to submit the test result to the public health authorities within seven days after arrival.

It is also possible to submit a negative PCR test result no older than 72 hours from any EU country upon arrival. This requirement does not apply to children younger than five.

There are special regulations for people travelling from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Those who spent over 12 hours there during the past 14 days must submit a negative coronavirus test prior to entry.

The test must be performed in the UK 72 hours before arrival at the most. Home quarantine is compulsory on arrival from the UK and people must undergo another test after at least five days.

Medium risk (orange) countries are those with a rate of positive tests over 4 percent and fewer than 250 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over the past two weeks. Only long-term workers arriving from these states, but not commuters, have to submit a negative test for coronavirus on arrival in the Czech Republic.

As of Monday, the orange group will include Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Iceland, Hungary, Malta, Norway, Greece, the Canaries, the Azores and Madeira.

A country is low-risk green if it saw fewer than 25 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past two weeks and had a ratio of positive tests less than 4 percent. Of European countries, only Vatican City meets this criteria.

Among non-EU countries, it Australia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand are considered low risk.