Due to a rising number of COVID-19 cases over the past few days, Slovenia has decided to remove the Czech Republic from its “green list” of epidemiologically safe countries and put it on the “yellow list” of less safe countries, the government’s spokesman Jelko Kacin said in Ljubljana.

He explained to a press conference that the government had made the decision on Thursday and that it would enter into force as of midnight Saturday.

Czechs can freely come to Slovenia only if they own property in that country or have booked some tourist accommodation.

In addition to the Czech Republic, Croatia and France have also been demoted to the yellow list while Belgium and the Netherlands have been promoted to the “green list”.

A few days ago, Kacin explained what it means to be on the “yellow list”. “If the country is placed on the yellow list, then a Slovenian citizen or foreigner with permanent or temporary residence in Slovenia – if they come from the EU or the Schengen area – enters Slovenia without quarantine. For other persons, a 14-day quarantine is mandatory,” he said, but also stated that there are 15 exceptions to that decision.

You can find the list of exceptions here

According to Gantar, a new government decision and the tightening of epidemiological measures are needed as part of the deteriorating situation in the region, but also in Slovenia, where more and more new local infections are being transmitted after the virus was imported, especially from “red list” countries such as Serbia, North Macedonia, BiH and Kosovo.

There were 132 new COVID-19 cases reported in the Czech Republic on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases to 12,046.

7,797 of them have been recovered, 349 people died. There are currently 3,900 infected in the country.

For more info, check out the Slovenian Ministry of Interior website

Slovenia has opened its borders to citizens of 14 states, including the Czech Republic, who can now travel to and from Slovenia without any coronavirus restrictions, the government said on its website on Monday.

The other countries are Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Switzerland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Slovakia and Liechtenstein.

The government also introduced an obligatory 14-day quarantine for everyone coming to Slovenia from North Macedonia, excluding diplomats, transport workers, and those passing through Slovenia without an overnight stay.

The move follows a surge in coronavirus cases in North Macedonia over recent days.

Slovenia, which in May became the first European state to declare an end to its coronavirus epidemic, has over the past few weeks opened its borders to citizens of neighbouring countries Croatia, Hungary, and Austria.

Slovenia has so far reported 1,485 coronavirus cases and 109 deaths. It introduced a general lockdown in the middle of March and has been gradually lifting it since April 20.