BAKU — Azerbaijan’s Cabinet of Ministers has extended the country’s special quarantine regime until October 1, continuing restrictions that have been in place since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Introduced on March 24, 2020, the special quarantine regime includes also the closure of Azerbaijan’s land borders, which have remained shut for more than six years.
Azerbaijan is currently the only country in the region to maintain official land border restrictions introduced during the pandemic.
Neighboring South Caucasus countries also closed their borders in 2020 in response to COVID-19. But Armenia reopened its land borders to citizens and foreign visitors on January 14, 2021, while Georgia resumed cross-border travel on June 1, 2021.
Many countries lifted pandemic-related travel restrictions shortly after the initial outbreak, howeverAzerbaijan has repeatedly extended its quarantine measures.
The government continues to cite COVID-19 concerns as the legal basis for maintaining border restrictions. However, President Ilham Aliyev has linked the policy to national security considerations, stating on several occasions that closed borders have “protected Azerbaijan from major disasters.”
A partial exception was introduced on May 26, when passenger rail services resumed on the Baku–Tbilisi–Baku route. As a result, the Boyuk Kesik crossing on the Georgian border was partially reopened.
Under the special arrangement, only 236 passengers per day are permitted to cross the land border by train to Georgia.