Nicosia, 6 September 2021 (MIA) – North Macedonia is no longer listed in any of the categories of countries whose nationals are allowed to travel to Cyprus, according to the new decision made by the Health Ministry of Cyprus, MIA’s Athens correspondent reports on Monday. According to the new categorization, Cyprus has removed North Macedonia from the Red Category. New rules enter into force on Thursday, September 9. Cyprus has divided European Union member states and third countries in three categories based on their epidemiological situation: green, orange and red. Special rules apply for each category. Countries that are not mentioned in these categories, as in the case of North Macedonia, are considered to belong in the Grey Category. Nationals of Grey Category countries are allowed to travel to Cyprus only after acquiring a special permit. Entry into Cyprus is allowed only to some of the nationals of these countries, who must present a negative PCR test result done in the past 72 hours and undergo mandatory quarantine upon arrival. Passengers coming from the Green Category countries are not required to hold a COVID-19 test certificate or self-isolate, which includes nine countries. The passengers coming from the 15 Orange Category countries 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. Red Category countries are considered with increased risk countries compared to the Green and Orange Categories. Passengers coming from the 39 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, over the course of the summer Cyprus moved North Macedonia from the Orange into the Green Category, before bumping it down to the Red Category and now to the Grey 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/. The Cypriot Health Ministry is updating the lists of countries who nationals are allowed to travel to the island weekly. Countries are categorized in accordance to how the pandemic evolves and epidemiological data changes in each country.