May 29, 2020 - No cases of COVID-19 infection were registered in Montenegro yesterday. The National Coordinating Body for Infectious Diseases is further easing measures to combat the spread of coronavirus, and foreign citizens from 26 countries will be free to enter Montenegro starting 1 June.
Travelers will not be quarantined or asked to self-isolate, the NKT said. The critical criterion for allowing entry will be an infection rate of 25 active COVID-19 cases or less per 100,000 inhabitants in the country where the foreigner resides or from which travel to Montenegro begins.
The NKT said it is updating this list of countries weekly. Among the countries currently on the list are Slovenia, Iceland, Croatia, Slovakia, Georgia, Switzerland, Albania, Austria, Norway, Monaco, Kosovo, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Israel, Northern Macedonia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Finland, and Estonia.
The NKT will now allow all types of gatherings, up to a maximum of 200 people, in open and closed spaces and public areas, including weddings and funerals. The 200 maximum also applies to spectators at sports events. The physical distancing of at least 2 meters during gatherings remains mandatory.
Entertainment venues, kindergartens
Discos, nightclubs, cinemas, theaters, and children's playrooms and kindergartens are now permitted to reopen, under the Institute of Public Health's instructions.
Licenses, residency permits
The NKT advises that expired driver's licenses and residency and work permits for foreigners are considered valid until 1 July.
The NKT notes that foreign citizens (and Montenegrins) with temporary or permanent residence in Montenegro that arrive in Montenegro from countries not on its safe list will be required to self-isolate or be ordered into quarantine for 14 days.
Self-isolation implies remaining in family housing or other accommodation, as well as medical monitoring.
Tourists do not have to, and Montenegrin sailors have to be quarantined
A group of Montenegrin sailors who arrived in Montenegro three days ago, after 72 days in ship quarantine, are outraged that they have been given another 14 days of quarantine at the Igalo Institute. They demand that this measure be abolished and, if necessary, transformed into self-isolation, since they have medical confirmation of not being infected with COVID-19.
Sasa Perisic from Herceg Novi was in a group of sailors who arrived in the Dubrovnik port of Gruz by boat "Carnival Breeze", and then via Montenegro to Debeli Brijeg. One group was placed in the quarantine of the Igalo Institute, and the others were transferred to the quarantine in Ulcinj.
"This is a shock to us. While we were on the ship, we did not think about the quarantine that awaits us upon arrival in Montenegro. It was just important for us to return home. I would now, after three days, sign to return to the ship. I do not see the logic that such conditions, such as an extreme quarantine regime. We thought the doors of our rooms would open because we came together. No one has examined us so far, I could die here without anyone but my friends knowing. We have been on the ship in quarantine for 72 days, the last 18 under the ultimate control of a doctor. We have papers that we are healthy, that we do not have COVID-19 disease, we have entered the country according to all regulations, we are just asking that they let us go into self-isolation. We were safer than all of you who are here ", said Perišić, who addressed the public on behalf of 27 colleagues from the quarantine in Igalo.
The most terrible thing, as Perišić says, is that they are locked up for 24 hours, that they are guarded by the army, which also inspects all the food and drinks that their relatives and friends bring them. On the other hand, he says, they can shake hands over the balcony, add things to each other and ask where the logic is.
Seafarers sent to Ulcinj, he claims, do not have such strict rules, they can leave the rooms, communicate, take a walk.
"This is not against the state. It is our appeal to let us go home in self-isolation. We're not on the nerve ending, but we don't want to get on the nerve ending either. We are just asking for them to let us go into self-isolation ", Perišić appealed on his behalf and behalf of his colleagues.
Source: Radio Tivat
