Search alerts

The government of the Dominican Republic has announced that from 15 September until 31 December it will provide visitors with a COVID-19 travel assistance insurance policy free of charge. Similar to a policy from Spain’s Canary Islands, and airline Virgin Atlantic, the policy will cover expenses that could be incurred relating to COVID-19 while in-destination. The news comes days after the Dominican Republic also announced that they will be dropping the current requirement for visitors to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result on arrival, in favour of random, rapid testing on arrival.

The tourism ministry of Namibia has announced that it has further eased restrictions on international tourists to encourage an increase in visitors; according to the amendments, arrivals are now permitted to travel to their pre-booked destination and take part in activities for up to five days, after which they will be tested for COVID-19. If they stay at their pre-booked destination for less than five days, they can proceed to another destination without a test. Under rules previously introduced in July, tourists were required to self-isolate at their first destination for seven days, which resulted in a large number of cancellations.

The state government of Australia's Victoria has unveiled its roadmap to easing COVID-19 restrictions; the plan will see stage four restrictions easing from 23.59 (local time) on 13 September.

A strict COVID-19 lockdown in the Australian city of Melbourne has been extended by at least two weeks until 28 September, following an announcement by the state premier; the current stage four restrictions were previously due to ease from 13 September. A gradual easing of the measures will be implemented from October. In the meantime, city residents will be subject to a slightly eased curfew, from 21.00 to 05.00 (local time) daily.

The government of the Dominican Republic has announced that from the end of September it will eliminate the entry requirement for arriving international visitors whereby proof of a negative COVID-19 test result, obtained a maximum of five days prior to departure, must be presented. In it's place, a new system will use a rapid breathalyzer-style test performed on selected passengers at random. The test takes five minutes to return results, and reportedly detects if passengers have been exposed to COVID-19 within the previous four hours.

The country’s prime minister today, 4 September, announced the retention of current COVID-19 restrictions in New Zealand until at least mid-September; this means that Auckland will remain on alert level 2.5, limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people, and the rest of the country will remain on the less restricted alert level 2. A review will be due on 14 September.

The government of the devolved UK administration of Wales has said that as of 04.00 (GMT+1) this morning, 4 September, arrivals from mainland Portugal, Gibraltar, French Polynesia and six Greek Islands must self-isolate on arrival. Among the Greek islands affected are Crete, Zakynthos, Mykonos, Lesvos, Paros and Antiparos. The announcement is the first time that the government of Wales has opted to set different quarantine rules to those of England and the UK government.

The government of the devolved UK administration of Scotland has said that as of 04.00 (GMT+1) tomorrow, 5 September, arrivals from Portugal and French Polynesia must self-isolate on arrival. The announcement is the latest in a number of occasions over the last few months whereby the government of Scotland has opted to set different quarantine rules to those of England and the UK government.

Low-cost carrier Jetstar has suspended all New Zealand Domestic flights until at least the end of Wednesday 16 September; this follows the New Zealand government's recent announcement of the extension of COVID-19 alert level 2 across New Zealand, and 2.5 in the city of Auckland, until 23.59 (local time) on 16 September 2020.

The cross-channel rail provider has announced that Eurostar trains will not stop in the UK county of Kent until 2022, due in a drop in demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Services have not been stopping in the two affected stations, Ashford and Ebbsfleet, since March - however the decision to extend this closure until 2022 has come as a surprise to many, and is not a decision that the provider says has been taken lightly.

The country’s prime minister has said that he’s pressing state governments within Australia to re-open their internal borders by December in order to ease interstate travel restrictions. He also pledged to bring more Australians home, which would involve the raising of the current cap of 4,000 international arrivals per week to the country's airports.

The government of Malaysia yesterday, 3 September, added at least nine more countries to its list of those from which long-term immigration pass holders will be barred entry to the country. From 7 September, entry will be restricted for those with the aforementioned visas from countries including the UK, United States, France, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The UK government is expected to today, 3 September, remove Portugal from it's 'travel corridor' list due to a surge in COVID-19 cases within the country. If removed, visitors or returning passengers arriving in England from Portugal will be required to self-isolate for 14 days. The official announcement is being awaited.

The Dubai-based airline has announced that it will resume flights to Accra, Ghana and Abidjan, Ivory Coast from 6 September; this will bring Emirates’ total number of destinations within Africa to 11, with 81 passenger destinations worldwide. The flights from Dubai to Accra and Abidjan will be linked services, operating three times a week on an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

The government of Greece has announced that it will require visitors from Russia to present a negative COVID-19 test before entering the country between 7-21 September. Under the new advisory, Russian citizens will need to obtain the test result a maximum of 72 hours prior to their arrival. Greece also said that a maximum 500 people from Russia will be allowed to land at the airports of Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion per week during the period in question.

The middle-eastern airline has announced that during September it will resume flights to Houston, Kathmandu, Mogadishu, Philadelphia and Sialkot; this will mean that Qatar Airways will from mid-September offer over 650 weekly flights to 85 destinations, which it says will provide flexible travel options to more global destinations than any other airline.

The country’s government has said that it plans to resume international commercial flights to and from six Asian cities from mid-September; the destinations proposed are Guangzhou, Seoul, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Taipei and Tokyo. Arriving passengers to Vietnam will still be required to undergo two weeks of quarantine.

The government of Kenya has said that it its borders are now re-open to international travellers; passengers on international flights must show a negative COVID-19 certificate on arrival obtained no more than 96 hours prior to departure from their home country. Passenger body temperatures must be below 37.5°C and visitors must not have a persistent cough, difficulty breathing, or other flu-like symptoms. If passengers comply with all the above and are from countries considered low to medium risk COVID-19 transmission areas they will be exempt from quarantine. All arriving passengers must complete a traveller health surveillance form online prior to disembarkation; they will receive a QR code after completion and must show it to a port health official in order to proceed through immigration.

The government of Nigeria has announced the country's third gradual easing of its COVID-19 lockdown; it will last for four weeks and during this period a curfew will now be in place for four hours daily from 00.01 (local time) to 04.00. However, ahead of international flights finally resuming from 5 September, some airlines will be initially denied entry, and a list has now been released. Some airlines though have been denied approval because international flights were yet to resume in their countries; approved airlines are expected to operate within COVID-19 protocols.

Indian low-cost airline IndiGo will from today, 3 September, commence flights between the capital of the Maldives, Male and India's Kochi under a bilateral air bubble agreement. Initially this new service will operate twice per week.