PREPPING FOR THE WINTER HOLIDAY SEASON: Europe is being swept by the biggest wave of the coronavirus pandemic so far, with daily infections setting records in several countries. Thankfully, mass vaccinations have helped to lower rates of hospitalization and death. And EU governments have rolled out a standardized COVID certificate, or green pass, that has helped keep borders and hospitality open. But amid panic about the new Omicron variant, uncertainty over how long vaccine immunity lasts and debates over booster shots, travel and health restrictions are rapidly fragmenting into a patchwork across EU countries.
Welcome to POLITICO’s Pandemic Passport Pandemic Passport!
As the rules become increasingly hard to navigate, we’re pulling together everything you need to know to understand Europe’s evolving restrictions. We’ll land in your mailbox on Friday afternoons. You industry email list can also head to our Coronavirus in Europe hub for all our coverage.
We welcome your feedback, tips and horror stories about travel around Europe. Get in touch: [email protected], or tweet me @busvine.
TRAVEL TRACKER
WHERE CAN I GO? We’ve revived our coronavirus travel tracker, your country-by-country guide on how to travel to every EU country and the U.K. — whether from inside the bloc or from further afield. It includes 5 steps to build an award-winning b2b marketing campaign links to passenger locator forms, guidance on proof of vaccination, tests and the rules in force in your destination country. We’ll be keeping this resource fresh so don’t forget to bookmark it.
You might be able to get into Austria with proof of vaccination or a negative test, but the country’s national lockdown is ongoing.
In Spain, it depends on which region be numbers you’re visiting — rules in Madrid might not match those in Catalonia.
Malta has given its EU neighbors (and much of the rest of the world) a red-list designation, requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test for entry.
The Czech Republic, fighting a surge in infections, now requires proof of vaccination or recovery to access hotels, restaurants and leisure facilities.
Read more in the full guide.