Hungary imposes border checks, quarantine to prevent spread of virus

BUDAPEST, July 12 (Reuters) - Hungary has imposed new restrictions on cross-border travel as of next Wednesday in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus after a surge in new cases in several countries, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff said on Sunday.

Under the new rules, Hungarian nationals returning from high risk countries listed as "yellow" and "red" will have to go through health checks at the border and will have to go into quarantine. The same applies to foreigners coming from "yellow" countries, but their entry will be banned from "red" countries.

Countries in the Balkans and neighbouring Ukraine belong to the red category, among other states. Serbia and Romania are listed as "yellow", while travel from Croatia is free for the time being.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than; editing by David Evans)