According to new regulations from Monday, all persons traveling to Poland using any kind of transport will be subject to mandatory quarantine. Those traveling from the Schengen zone will be exempt from quarantine if they possess a completed coronavirus test no older than 48 hours.
The test will not absolve travelers from countries outside of Schengen in which the test was taken. They can avoid the quarantine after another negative test taken in Poland after crossing the border.
Previously, quarantine was mandatory for persons crossing Poland’s border from outside of the EU and those from within EU borders who traveled via mass transport. These regulations were strengthened at the end of February on the borders with Czechia and Slovakia. Sanitary control was introduced on those borders, and as part of this control, Polish Border Guard patrols checked whether persons crossing the border possessed negative tests.
For Poles and foreigners living in Poland, the test was the basis for being exempt from quarantine, while for the rest, it was mandatory. In one month, almost 80,000 people were checked. Starting Tuesday, similar sanitary control were introduced on all Polish borders which are part of the internal EU borders, including Lithuania and Germany.
Government spokesman Piotr Muller explained that following the new changes, standard border control will not be reintroduced to those borders. It had been previously restored a year ago at the start of the pandemic. Muller noted, however, that there will be patrols on the German and Lithuanian borders which will randomly check whether people possess current coronavirus tests. If they do not, they will be verified and entered into the quarantine system.
The government spokesman also stated that trans-border workers, professional drivers, students, and some others will still not have to go into mandatory quarantine after crossing the border.
People vaccinated with a Covid-19 vaccine permitted in the EU and convalescents who ended isolation or hospitalization no later than six months prior to crossing the border will also not have to go into mandatory quarantine.
