Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania opened their borders to travel within the region on Friday. The Baltic States are thus the first countries within the European Union to have created a so-called ‘travel bubble’.
The opening of the borders makes travel within the Baltic states possible again. Travelers from outside the area must remain in isolation for up to 14 days.
The “Baltic travel bubble”, as Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis calls the reopening, “is an opportunity for companies to open again and for residents a hope of a return to normal life”.
The opening follows the set of recommendations for opening borders and starting tourism that the European Commission (EC) presented on Wednesday. It stated, among other things, that countries that are in approximately the same phase and that have a similar risk profile can open borders for each other.
The Baltic states say they are in the same phase. The lockdowns in the countries were already lifted at the end of April and the number of new infections is stably small: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania reported no more than seven new infections on Wednesday.
Across the region, a total of less than 150 people have died from the effects of the coronavirus.
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The coronavirus in short
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