Estonia weekly updates to entry restrictions [13–19 December 2021]

Estonia has recently updated its list of entry restrictions affecting citizens and residents of the European Union, the Schengen Area, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican.

The Estonian government has different rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated people depending on the country they’re coming from. It also considers whether these people have been sick in the past or not because it is believed that people with previous COVID-19 infections have a certain level of immunization as well.

As for the classification of the countries, Estonia utilizes a “traffic light” system in which there are green, yellow, and red countries only, based on their infection rates from the last 14 days.

• Green countries are those with an infection rate lower than 75.1 new cases per 100,000 people per day.
• Yellow countries have an infection rate of 75.1-200 new cases on average per 100,000 inhabitants (per day).
• Red countries have a 14-day infection rate higher than 200.1 new cases per 100,000 residents per day.

The statistics required to make these lists are compiled on the basis of official ECDC data, which is checked every week. This way, the Estonian authorities are able of keeping the list and entry restrictions updated according to each country’s sanitary situation.

After the last update on Friday 10 December 2021 (with all the modifications coming into effect on Monday 13 December 2021), there is only one green country (the Vatican) and only one yellow country (Romania). The rest of the European countries (including the microstates of Andorra, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, and Liechtenstein) are classified as red.

So what are the rules and requirements for people coming from all these countries?

• People who are properly immunized against the virus and/or come from a green country are not subject to any kind of special entry requirement.
• People coming from yellow countries must take a COVID-19 diagnostic test before arrival. If they don’t present a negative test upon arrival in Estonia, they will have to take a test at the border and stay in quarantine until they receive a negative result.
  In this case, the COVID-19 diagnostic test requirement is always mandatory, regardless of the person’s vaccination status.
• People coming from red countries are still required to bring a negative COVID-19 diagnostic test with them or take one at the border. But in this case, there is an obligatory 10-day long travel quarantine requirement. Travelers can shorten the self-isolation period with a second COVID-19 test taken no earlier than six days after the first test upon arrival in Estonia.

Estonia also has a list of third countries divided only into green and red areas with the same entry requirements applying to green and red areas in the European continent.

Green areas include Argentina, Bahrain, Colombia, Indonesia, Kuwait, New Zealand, Peru, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and United Arab Emirates.

Red areas include Australia, Canada, Chile, South Korea, and Uruguay.