Nicosia, 16 August 2021 (MIA) – Starting Thursday, Cyprus will move North Macedonia and other five countries from Green into the Orange Category. Macedonian nationals who want to travel to the island must present a negative result from a COVID-19 test taken no more than 72 hours before departure, MIA’s Athens correspondent reports on Monday. Cyprus has divided European Union member states and third countries in three categories based on their epidemiological situation: green, orange and yellow. Special rules apply for each category. Countries that are not mentioned in these categories are considered to belong in the Grey Category. Orange Category countries are considered with possibly low risk but greater uncertainty compared to the Green Category and include North Macedonia and Austria, Bulgaria, Latvia, Slovenia and Canada. It is noted that passengers coming from the Green Category countries are not required to hold a COVID-19 test certificate or self-isolate, which includes 11 countries. The passengers coming from Orange Category countries including North Macedonia, as well as Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Finland, Vatican City, Lichtenstein, Norway, Canada, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Qatar, China, (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), Bahrein, Saudi Arabia, shall be required to undergo a PCR laboratory test within 72 hours prior to departure and to possess a certificate showing a negative PCR result. Moreover, passengers coming from Red Category countries shall be required to undergo a PCR laboratory test within 72 hours prior to departure proving a negative PCR result and undergo a laboratory test upon their arrival in the Republic of Cyprus. As MIA previously reported, Cyprus moved North Macedonia on July 22 from the Orange into the Green Category. In regard to countries in the region, Croatia is in the Green Category, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria are in the Orange Category, while Albania, Montenegro and Serbia are in the Red Category. Passengers holding a valid certificate of vaccination against COVID-19 arriving in Cyprus from abroad, regardless of their nationality and country of departure, shall be exempted from the obligation of laboratory testing and self-isolation/quarantine, if they hold a valid certificate of vaccination issued by the following states:  EU Member States (including Cyprus), EEA Member States (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway), Switzerland, Israel, United Kingdom, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Belarus, Serbia, Qatar, Bahrein, United States of America, Armenia, Georgia, Canada, Kuwait and China. Moreover, they must be vaccinated either with one of the vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Johnson), or with the Sputnik V or Sinopharm vaccine and 14 days must have elapsed between the administration of the second dose of the vaccine and the date of travel. All passengers, regardless of the country’s category, are obliged to apply for the CyprusFlightPass form, available at https://cyprusflightpass.gov.cy/  48 hours before the departure of their flight. The Cypriot Ministry of Health stressed that all passengers can be subject to random testing regardless of where they come from. The categorization of countries, the Health Ministry added, is extremely dynamic and may be modified at any moment as the pandemic evolves and the epidemiological data changes. Therefore, new data will be announced and the list of countries will be updated frequently. The new categorization of countries will take effect on 19 August 2021.