The Greek authorities have made several fundamental changes to the updated entry rules for foreign tourists. They relate to the duration of the PCR and rapid antigen test. The official representative of the government of the republic, Yannis Oikonomou, told reporters about this.
The Ministry of Health announced new requirements for travelers at the beginning of the week. It was assumed that persons arriving in Greece must take a PCR test no later than 48 hours before crossing the border. Thus, the validity period of the certificate in comparison with the previously adopted regulations was reduced by almost a day.
Note that at the end of last week, Italy introduced similar requirements. However, the European Commission considered such innovations unacceptable and called on the EU countries to coordinate their actions on border crossing issues in a pandemic. In Rome itself, the message of Brussels is still being ignored, but in Athens they have heard. As a result, the validity period of the PCR test for tourists was again extended to 72 hours.
However, they did not make an exception for those entering on antigen tests. Such a certificate now needs to be received not 48, but 24 hours before arrival. Finally, the document about the past illness must be no more than 90 days old.
“The new omicron coronavirus strain prompted our country to take additional measures for foreign visitors,” explained Yannis Oikonomou and added that the restrictions are primarily aimed at combating the spread of COVID-19 on the eve of the New Year holidays.