ATHENS – A ban on entry to Greece of non-EU nationals will remain in effect until June 15 – when flights from specific destinations abroad will be allowed – while the obligation to keep quarantine for visitors to Greece will be extended to the end of June, the Civil Aviation Authority (CYA) said on Monday.

In a notam, CYA said that all nationalities arriving in Greece from June 1 to midnight June 14 will be obliged to submit to coronavirus testing and stay at a designated hotel. If their test results (the next day) are negative, they will be obliged to spend 7 days in quarantine; if positive, 14 days quarantine. This also includes Greek citizens arriving from abroad.

From June 15 to June 30, only passengers arriving from high-infection countries will be subjected to testing and the above quarantine durations. The "hot" countries are designated by the EU Aviation Safety Agency, and the list is updated frequently, and passengers must be warned in advance that refusal to take the test will mean they will not be allowed to leave the airport. Testing for this part of the month will be by random sampling, as a specific number of passengers per flight must submit to the test.

Specific categories are exempted form the testing, including political, military, humanitarian, cargo and emergency flights.

Non-EU citizens are banned from entry to Greece, unless they are relatives of EU citizens or under particular categories such as health, government, defense or humanitarian staff or have long-term visas. Also exempted are those who have been granted permission by Greek consulates in their regions, as well as the EU's Frontex border agency personnel.

As a reminder, all flights from abroad will be landing at the Athens International Airport "Eleftherios Venizelos", and as of June 15 at the Thessaloniki International Airport "Makedonia". Until June 30, direct flights to other international airports in Greece will be banned.

A temporary ban on flights to and from Greece regarding the following countries is still in effect, with exceptions: Albania, Italy, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.