Travel Restrictions into Hungary Announced

The Hungarian government has announced restrictions on entry in into the country connection with the coronavirus epidemic.

The Minister heading the Prime Minister's Office, Gergely Gulyás said this Sunday that the government decided to classify countries into three categories – red, yellow and green – in terms of the severity of the coronavirus epidemic and to limit the border crossing of those coming from there.

The minister stated that the government did not consider the introduction of additional domestic restrictive rules to be justified, as the number of infections is decreasing in Hungary, however, the maintenance of the favorable process can be ensured by tightening border controls.

He explained that in the case of the green category, the infection risk is low, and therefore, the government deems entry acceptable. The yellow category includes countries where the situation is less severe, and the red category includes those where it is severe.

Special rules apply to Hungarian citizens and their relatives, as well as to non-Hungarians. A Hungarian citizen can enter Hungary from a 'green' country without control. Entering from a country marked in yellow or red, they are subjected to a health check at the border and must be quarantined for 14 days. An exception to this is if the person can credibly show two negative coronavirus tests 48 hours apart from the previous five days. A Hungarian citizen from a country marked in yellow may be released from quarantine after the first coronavirus test, while in the case of a country marked in red, two negative tests are required.

In the case of non-Hungarian citizens, citizens of countries marked in yellow can enter under the same conditions as Hungarian citizens, but it is not possible to enter from countries marked in red, he said.