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Liberia’s state of emergency has been extended by 30 days, to allow the government to re-examine its COVID-19 response strategy. The state of emergency was declared in April, and the latest suspension was effective as of 22 June.

The global tour operator has introduced a new collection of trips, the ‘Travel with Confidence Plus Collection’, for people looking to travel in smaller groups of 8-10 with less shared space. The range consists of 37 trips in 27 countries which are designed with a number of features to enhance physical distancing. and increase customer confidence in travelling post-COVID-19.

From today, 25 June, transit services at Taipei's Taoyuan International Airport have started to resume in phases; during the first phase, transfers are only permitted between airlines in the Evergreen Group, which includes national airline EVA Air, and must have a same-day connection time of less than eight hours. Initially, transfer to and from mainland China is also not permitted.

European Union officials are reportedly racing to agree on who can visit European countries from 1 July - according to a report in the New York Times, draft lists currently exclude the U.S. based on how the country is handling, and is affected by, COVID-19.

The U.S. states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have asked people travelling from other states where COVID-19 cases are rising to go into self-isolation for 14 days. Currently those states are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Washington and Utah; anyone found to be violating the self-isolation requirement could be fined a minimum of US$1000.

Following the previous alert on the upcoming re-opening of the Maldives to tourism, further clarity on the initial lifting of restrictions has been published. From 15 July visitors will be provided a free 30-day visa-on-arrival, and will not be subject to any form of quarantine - only those with symptoms will be subject to a PCR test for COVID-19. A confirmed booking with an approved resort on an uninhabited island is required until 1 August, at which time other accommodations on inhabited islands will also be permitted to re-open.

The Dubai-based airline will continue to operate a number of repatriation flights scheduled from 24-30 June, which are set to continue assisting Pakistani nationals to return home from the UAE. This is despite the announcement last night that regular passenger services from Pakistan's Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore airports have been temporarily suspended, following the news that a number of passengers on a previous flight tested positive for COVID-19.

Following an executive order signed by the U.S. president, entry to non-immigrant visa holders in categories H-1B, H-2B, J and L has been suspended effective today, 24 June. This includes those arriving for the purposes of participating in an intern, trainee, teacher, camp counselor, au-pair or summer work travel program; the decision was made on the basis that these visa holders present risk to the recovery of the U.S labour market during post-COVID-19 economic recovery. The suspension is valid until 31 December.

The Dubai-based airline is set to resume flights to London Heathrow and Paris using their highly popular, flagship Airbus A380 from 15 July - hailed as the world's largest and most spacious passenger aircraft. The move will mark the first time that the airline has returned the aircraft to scheduled services since the pandemic forced the grounding of their passenger fleet in March.

Cruise sailings in the U.S have largely been suspended until 15 September, after member operators of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) have voluntary extended their pauses in operations. Although U.S authorities are set to lift the suspension on sailings of 250 people or more from 24 July, many operators agree that they will need more time to resolve barriers to resuming their cruises. Members of CLIA include Carnival, Disney, Holland America Line, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Princess Cruises.

Far East Hotels and Serviced Residences in Singapore and Malaysia have enhanced precautionary measures to ensure that guests feel "Far More Assured" when staying at their hotels. Far East have worked closely with government and health agencies to deliver stringent health and hygiene protocols, and are committed to delivering a clean and safe environment.

From 13 July all travel restrictions and mandatory 14-day quarantine for tourist arrivals from qualifying European countries will end, but only if their COVID-19 infection rates remain at current levels. Based on current infection numbers, countries that could qualify include Italy, Germany, Austria, Greece, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Lichtenstein, Croatia, Cyprus and Ireland - but this is subject to change. The travel restrictions and quarantine rule will though remain in place for travellers from neighbouring Sweden.

New Zealand's state-owned rail operator KiwiRail is set to resume its TranzAlpine scenic rail journey from 4 July onwards; the beloved train service runs between Christchurch on the east coast of the country's south island, and Greymouth in the west. Beginning with a weekend and school holiday timetable in July and August, the service plans to assess demand before resuming more frequent services, as the country expects its borders to be closed to international visitors for some time.

Turkey's national airline is continuing to resume flights to an increasing number of North American destinations, after our previous bulletin on services resuming to Chicago, Washington and Miami this past weekend. Flights to Los Angeles will start tomorrow, 25 June; New York and Toronto will follow on 1 July; San Francisco, Montreal and Houston are currently set to follow later in July.

From today, 24 June, further commercial passenger flights are resuming from Afghanistan. Turkish Airlines will now operate two flights per week from Kabul until 1 July, from which time there will be four per week. Dubai-based Emirates will resume flights from Kabul from tomorrow, 25 June, and operate three times per week initially.

From 1 August, visitors from low and medium-risk countries will be permitted entry to the Seychelles; for visitors from low-risk countries, either a negative COVID-19 test or a rapid antigen test must be provided – but for those from medium-risk countries, only a negative COVID-19 test will be accepted. The low risk countries are Belgium, China, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Mauritius, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Thailand. The medium risk countries are Austria, Canada, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, UAE.

Oaks Apartments have updated details on their SureStay program. Launching on 1 July, Oaks SureStay program builds on already impeccably high standards of cleanliness to deliver a hospital grade standard of sanitation throughout guest rooms, common areas and food & beverage venues at all Oaks properties.

In an update to previous announcements about the resumption of flight routes via a special Abu Dhabi transit service, Etihad has confirmed that they will connect passengers to a total of 13 European destinations from early July. Destination cities include Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich. They hope to increase their network even further from 16 July and are working closely alongside the UAE authorities to do so.

The country’s government have announced that the Maldives will re-open its borders and resume international tourism from 15 July. Permits will be granted to for resorts to operate initially, and the guesthouse industry is expected to be given the green light from August.

The airline is set to resume flights from London-Delhi and London-Mumbai from 2 September. The resumption of these routes into India is part of yesterday's announcement by Virgin Atlantic that it will resume flights to an additional 17 destinations from August.