Finland Abolishes All COVID-19 Travel Restrictions for Third Country Citizens

The decision which will facilitate the travel process for passengers outside the European Union and the Schengen Zone has been confirmed through a statement published by the Finnish government, while stressing that the new changes will become effective on June 30, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

The new rules have been introduced after health authorities in Finland ensured that the epidemiological situation in the country permits such a decision to be taken while stressing that there is no longer any health ground for restrictions to be kept in place on the country’s external borders.

Authorities in Finland believe that the removal of such restrictions imposed to contain the further spread of the Coronavirus and its new variants will lead to an increase in the number of arrivals from passengers from countries outside the EU and the Schengen Zone.

“The removal of restrictions is expected to increase traffic from third countries. For example, traffic on the eastern border may increase. Traffic volumes are affected by, among other things, the desire of Russians to travel and the number of valid visas. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs issues visas to Finland,” the statement published by Finland’s government reads.

Back in January this year, Finnish government announced that it lifted the internal border controls introduced due to COVID-19 for all arrivals from the European Union Member States.

The decision was confirmed through a statement published by Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became effective on January 31. Back then, the same Ministry stressed that the controls on the country’s external borders imposed for arrivals from third countries would continue to remain in place.

According to the figures provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), a total of 1,125,342 people have tested positive for the Coronavirus in Finland since the beginning of the outbreak, while a total of 4,771 people lost their lives due to the virus.

The figures provided by WHO show that as of June 5, there have been 11,833,690 vaccine doses administered in Finland.

However, despite such figures, authorities in Finland have estimated that the epidemiological situation permits the easing of the restrictions in order to further facilitate the travel process and help the country recover from the damages caused by the virus.