Albania removes all remaining pandemic restrictions
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- The decision comes after the an improved situation in the past couple of months, with new cases and hospitalizations decreasing.
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TIRANA, April 26, 2022 – Albania will remove all remaining pandemic restrictions on May 1, the Technical Committee of Experts said Tuesday.
The decision means masks will no longer be mandatory indoors, nightclubs can reopen and music will be allowed in bars after 11 p.m.
The requirement to submit a vaccination document or a negative test or a recovery certificate at the border before entering Albania will also be removed.
The removal of measures is expected to give a boost to business as the busy tourist arrives.
The decision comes after the an improved situation in the past couple of months, with new cases and hospitalizations decreasing.
The positivity ratio in tests has fallen to 3.8 percent, according to the Institute of Public Health. That number is an indicator of virus transmission in the community. There are currently 420 official cases, 288 in Tirana County alone.
Despite the improved situation, the authorities strongly recommend vaccination, as the main means of protection against the virus, especially for the avoidance of severe cases, at a time when the virus is still in circulation.
"We still have the circulation of BA1 strain, BA2 strain and despite the very good epidemiological situation, Covid-19 strains are undergoing constant mutations. Therefore, the risk remains,” said Department of Infectious Diseases Director Silva Bino.
She also urged people to keep wearing masks in crowded places indoors, even-though the rule would no longer be legally mandated. In fact, the rule had been disregarded for weeks, as few Albanians wore masks in supermarkets and other public places.
About 61 percent of Albanians over 12 have had at least one dose of the vaccine, and 50 percent have had two doses.
Technical Committee of Experts also announced that the Vaccination Committee has recommended "carrying out the fourth dose for citizens over 60 years of age and those with compromised immune systems according to the recommendation of the family doctor."
Many Albanian elderly were originally given Chinese vaccines that are not as effective and new rules allow them to get more effective mRNA boosters made by Pfizer.
Since the start of the pandemic two years ago, about 275,000 people have tested positive, though the infected are likely far higher. About 3,500 lives have been lost, according to official statistics.
Albania had been lifting restrictions in steps. It removed the night-time curfew at the start of March. Although mandatory masking on public transit and indoor public places has been in place for months, masking continued to be sporadic, with many people not following the rules on paper and going indoors without masks.
