Portugal lifts COVID-19 travel ban on tourists from Brazil

FILE PHOTO: A person takes a picture in Lisbon downtown amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Lisbon, Portugal, June 24, 2021. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal said on Wednesday it would allow entry for tourists from Brazil, nearly 18 months after it imposed a ban on non-essential travel from the Portuguese-speaking South American nation to stem the spread of coronavirus.

Although Brazilians, who make up Portugal's biggest expatriate community, were allowed access for reasons such as work, family or health, the lifting of the tourism ban has been long-awaited.

Portugal is now open to tourists from the European Union who present the bloc's digital COVID-19 certificate, as well as the United States, from where visitors must show a negative test result on arrival.

Travellers from Brazil now no longer need to quarantine but must provide a negative COVID-19 test. The same rule applies to visitors from Britain, according to the government.

Brazil has had more than 20.7 million confirmed coronavirus infections and more than 580,000 fatalities due to the virus.

Passengers from nations such as Japan, Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Singapore and Canada will also be able to travel to Portugal if they provide a negative test.

Visitors from Nepal, India and South Africa are still required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival and must only be travelling for essential reasons.

Portugal has lifted most restrictions with a three-stage plan, supported by a speedy and efficient vaccination rollout.

As of Wednesday, 73% of the population was fully vaccinated, health ministry data show.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Mike Harrison)

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