Ministers have agreed to restore internal Schengen travel restrictions on Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, Greece and Malta following a rise in coronavirus cases in those countries.
Restrictions will also be re-introduced between non-Schengen countries Ireland, San Marino, Cyprus and Japan - and come into force from Monday 24th August.
Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo (Green) and Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harakka (SDP) made the announcement on Wednesday morning.
“It is clear that the situation has deteriorated for many countries” Ohisalo says.
In practice it means anyone who wants to come to Finland from those countries will need to have a strong reason such as business travel or a family reason – and people are still expected to go to self-isolation for 14 days on arrival. However a recent investigation by News Now Finland found that in reality during the tightest travel restrictions in spring, tens of thousands of people continued arriving in Finland from countries with restrictions, and very few were denied entry at the borders.
The government and public health officials have set a limit of 8 to 10 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 population in the previous two weeks for unrestricted travel to/from Finland - and countries exceeding this viral limit will have restrictions imposed.
“Finland’s line in cross-border traffic is therefore still the strictest in the European Union. The reason for this is that we have wanted to maintain the relatively good disease situation in Finland, which everyone in this country has tried to achieve over the past year” she writes on Twitter.
“Travel to high risk areas should still be avoided” the interior minister says.
Although the coronavirus situation has worsened for Estonia, Lithuania, Italy and Slovakia has exceeded the threshold of 8, they’re still below 10 so no new restrictions for those countries are being brought in at this time.
An exception to the new travel restrictions applies to border communities in Finland and Sweden and Norway - even though both countries exceed the coronavirus thresholds. The exception acknowledges that lives, jobs and relationships are built across the borders in small interdependent communities which can’t easily or fairly be separated.
Decision pending on Macedonia flights
Minister Harakka says there’s still a decision pending about a temporary suspension of WizzAir flights between Turku and the Macedonian capital Skopje.
Over the last week a number of passengers arriving on the flights have tested positive for coronavirus, and public health officials have previously noted a spike in Covid-19 cases in Finland which originated in the Balkan region.
Harakka says the decision to suspend flights will be taken by Traficom, but that he anticipates they’ll be halted by 29th August at the latest.
