From today, citizens from Sweden and Luxembourg wishing to start work in the Czech Republic must provide a negative covid-19 test performed in the country. This rule was already in place for workers from Bulgaria, Romania and Portugal. Photo credit: Freepik / For illustrative purposes.
Czech Rep., Jul 27 (BD) – On Friday, the Ministry of Health published its latest update to the traffic light system, which included Sweden changing from a medium- to low-risk country, the last country in the European Union (EU) to do so. While considered low-risk, the Ministry will now require employers to request negative Covid-19 tests from Swedish workers, as well as staff from Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Romania and Portugal. The changes will go into effect from today.
The tests must have taken place in the Czech Republic, and cannot be older than four days.
According to the Ministry, the requirement of a negative test for workers from these countries is a response to the increased number of cases occurring among foreign workers. Further evaluation of the epidemiological situation will be carried out over the next week.
The rule also applies to any countries that are not on the low-risk list, which includes most non-EU countries, and anyone who has spent more than 12 hours in a medium- or high-risk country in the past 14 days. If no test is submitted, the employee in question will not be allowed on the premises of their employer.
All EU and EU+ countries are now considered low-risk, but like the Czech Republic they are still reporting local outbreaks. There are currently no restrictions on Czech citizens returning from these countries, but the Ministry warns that “there is an increased epidemiological risk in local outbreaks, so citizens should take this into account when planning their trips.”
The worsening situations in some countries, especially Romania, Bulgaria and Portugal, are being closely monitored and could soon be taken off the list of low-risk countries. There have so far been several significant local outbreaks in Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Spain and Portugal.
You can see the epidemiological situation in the EU on the ‘Corona’ portal of the Ministry of Health, and further information about travel to and from countries outside the EU on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
