Italy became the first European country to announce tougher coronavirus requirements for American tourists entering the country.
On Monday, European Union removed the U.S. from its safe travel list amid a surge of new coronavirus cases across the U.S.
Any traveler who has been in the U.S. in the previous two weeks must present a negative coronavirus test taken within three days of their arrival in Italy regardless of their vaccination status, the Italian Ministry of Health said Tuesday.
All unvaccinated travelers are required to quarantine for five days; then be tested for coronavirus again, even if their initial test was negative.
On the other hand, vaccinated travelers must take a test for the coronavirus before entering.
Tourists must also fill out a passenger locator form, which allows contact tracers to identify viral clusters in the event of a coronavirus breakout.
The new restrictions also apply to travelers coming from Japan, Canada and Israel.
The European Union is encouraging authorities across Europe to reinstate the sort of mandatory quarantine and testing requirements that seemed to be on their way out, though primarily for unvaccinated travelers. It’s up to each country to decide if it wants to issue new requirements.
