The government decided to extend the restriction on opening direct air routes from Estonia to countries with a high-risk number of daily new cases of coronavirus until the end of August.
“During the past weeks, we have seen a spike in daily new cases of coronavirus in many foreign countries. This is why we decided to prolong the restriction until the end of August, which also better allows the airline companies to plan their next steps,” said Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Taavi Aas.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications bases the admission and prohibition of destination countries on the morbidity rate of other countries, which must be 25 or fewer people per 100,000 inhabitants during the last 14 days to open the route. The Ministry reviews the epidemiological situation in the countries of destination regularly and opens or restricts the opening of routes according to the spread of the virus.
“The European Union has also given its recommendations on opening airlines with third countries. Some member states abide by them, some don’t. I believe we should be careful, in light of recent spikes in the daily numbers. In a lot of countries, for example in Ukraine, the situation is slowly getting better, but opening a connection might be a bit hasty,” added Aas.
As of July 24, it is prohibited to open direct flights from Estonia between Luxembourg, Romania, Bulgaria, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Russia. At the same time, the opening of routes also depends on the rules of the destination country itself. As in Estonia, there are restrictions on entering the country in other countries, which should be taken into account when planning your trip.
The restriction is valid from May 18 to August 31, during which the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, in co-operation with the Estonian Health Board, will assess the further necessity of the restriction. You can find the information about specific countries and their cumulative number of coronavirus infections per 100,000 population during the last 14 days HERE.
