March 1, 2021

UPDATE 140: International Mail Service Updates Related to COVID-19

On March 1, 2021, the Postal Service received notifications from various postal operators regarding changes in international mail services due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The following countries have provided updates to certain mail services:

Croatia UPDATE: Croatian Post has advised that the measures taken to limit the spread of COVID-19 have been lifted, as of February 28, 2021.

Jamaica UPDATE: Jamaica Post has advised that the Government of Jamaica has extended the national curfew until March 22, 2021. Consequently, the force majeure previously announced continues to apply, with an impact on quality of service for all types of mail, including inbound and outbound letter-post, parcel-post and Express Mail Service (EMS) items.

Lithuania UPDATE: AB Lietuvos pastas has advised that the Lithuanian Government has extended the full-country lockdown until March 31, 2021, in order to control the spread of the coronavirus. While the lockdown is in place, postal services will continue to operate under certain restrictions in order to minimize contact between people. Items normally requiring the addressee’s signature upon delivery will be handed over without signature. The processing and delivery of all types of inbound and outbound mail (letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items) will continue to be affected, and Lietuvos paštas is unable to guarantee compliance with the usual delivery standards. Therefore, force majeure will continue to apply.

New Zealand UPDATE: New Zealand Post has advised that, as a result of the recent confirmed community outbreak of COVID-19 in Auckland, the New Zealand Government has moved the Auckland region to national COVID-19 Alert Level 3 as of February 28, 2021, provisionally for the next seven days. The rest of New Zealand has moved to COVID-19 Alert Level 2 for the same period. A summary of New Zealand’s COVID-19 Alert Levels and their restrictions can be found at covid19.govt.nz/alert-system. All inbound/outbound operations will continue and contactless delivery and pick up processes apply, with delivery staff capturing the name of the receiving customer to avoid any physical contact. Given the current restrictions, New Zealand Post can no longer guarantee service delivery standards for letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items, and is invoking force majeure until further notice.

Unless otherwise noted, service updates to a particular country do not affect delivery of military and diplomatic mail.

These service updates affect Priority Mail Express International^® (PMEI), Priority Mail International^® (PMI), First-Class Mail International^® (FCMI), First-Class Package International Service^® (FCPIS^®), International Priority Airmail^® (IPA^®), International Surface Air Lift^® (ISAL^®), and M-Bag^® items.

The DMM Advisory will continue to provide updates as they are received. For a full list of international service disruptions, please visit https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/welcome.htm