From August 31, travelers coming from Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, San Marino, Slovakia or the Vatican do not need to quarantine. Visitors from every other European country must quarantine.

Quarantine also applies if a traveler comes from a country with a low rate of infection but transfers through a country with a high rate of infection.

Countries are put on the quarantine list if their rate of new infections is over 16 per 100,000 as a 14-day average.

The full list of countries and their infection rates are published below, countries above 16 are in bold.

• Andorra 153,6
• Austria 41,2
• Belgium 47,7
• Bulgaria 26,3
• Croatia 77,1
• Czech Republic 36,6
• Cyprus 20,4
• Denmark 24,3
• Finland 6,1
• France 75,1
• Germany 20,9
• Greece 29,4
• Hungary 5,8
• Iceland 31,1
• Ireland 31,1
• Italy 19,4
• Latvia 3,1
• Liechtenstein 39,1
• Lithuania 15,5
• Luxembourg 134,4
• Malta 116,1
• Monaco 78,6
• Netherlands 42,9
• Norway 13,6
• Poland 26,9
• Portugal 30,4
• Romania 85,1
• San Marino 0
• Slovakia 16,3*
• Slovenia 20,3
• Spain 196,4
• Sweden 31,9
• Switzerland 42
• United Kingdom 23,2
• Vatican 0,0

* According to p 1 terts 3 of Government of the Republic Order No. 172, the restriction on the freedom of movement is not applied in case a country's number of positive tests per 100,000 inhabitants remains between 16 to 17.6 during a period of two weeks.

See the list and advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in English here. 

Based on a recommendation from the Council of the European Union, Estonia can open its border to 11 countries outside the European Union which have a low infection rate. 

Travelers from Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, South Korea, Rwanda, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay and New Zealand can enter Estonia but must quarantine on arrival.

The foreign ministry updates its quarantine list every Friday afternoon and the restrictions come into effect the following Monday.

What does quarantine mean?

This means that within 14 calendar days of their arrival in Estonia, people must refrain from unnecessary contacts and can leave their place of residence or permanent accommodation only for seeing a doctor and shopping food, essentials and medicines, or in emergencies.

Estonia has launched its free coronavirus exposure notification app "HOIA" which can be downloaded from the Google Play store or the App store.

Testing instead of quarantine

Starting from September 1, people with a negative COVID-19 test arriving from countries with an increased risk of infection - above 16 per 100,000 - are permitted to go to work if it is absolutely crucial, and on the condition that they immediately test negative for the virus on their arrival.

All contact with other people must be avoided while waiting for the test results.

In case of a negative test result, the restriction on the freedom of movement applies for the first seven days, i.e. it is allowed to go to work or shop for essentials in case of emergencies but non-essential contacts should be avoided.

They must take a second test no earlier than seven days after the first test and if the test is also negative, they are free to continue their everyday life. This means that the 14-day restriction on the freedom of movement does not apply to them after two negative tests.

Anyone arriving from a high-risk country who does not take the test must self-isolate for 14 days.

It is not possible to replace the restriction with testing if you are arriving for work or studies from a third country not included on the common EU list.

Direct flights to nine countries next week

From Monday there will be direct flights to and from Tallinn from nine countries:

• Cyprus
• Lithuania
• Latvia
• Norway
• Germany
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Finland
• Denmark
• Hungary
• United Kingdom

Restricted countries include Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, the Netherlands, Croatia, Ireland, Iceland, Greece, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Portugal, France, Sweden, Romania, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications allows direct flights to and from Estonia if the infection rate is 25 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants during the last 14 days.

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