Covid-19 & State of Emergency in Bulgaria
17 July 2020Covid-19 State of Emergency
Bulgaria declared a state of emergency on Friday 13th March, giving the government extraordinary powers.
As approved, the state of emergency is effective from now until 13 April 2020.
Travel Restrictions
As part of the state of emergency from 18th March onwards, foreign nationals coming from the People’s Republic of China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Spain, Italy, South Korea, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland will not be allowed to enter Bulgaria.
People with residence permits and their family members are excluded from this restriction (“permitted foreign nationals”).
The permitted foreign nationals coming from the countries above will be placed in quarantine for 14 days. This may be through self isolation or in a hospital and it will be decided by the health unit at border control at Sofia Airport
The state may be extended in time or in scope, etc. Additional restrictions might be implemented.
Government administrative work has been affected by the emergency. Indeed, we expect certain delays.
To limit the spread of the virus globally, the European Council agreed to reinforce the EU’s external borders by applying a coordinated temporary restriction of non-essential travel to the EU for a period of 30 days. Bulgaria has supported the measure and steps will be taken on the national level.