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GERMANY’S public health agency on Monday (7/6) said the UK, India, Portugal and Russia were no longer ‘areas of worrying variance’, so it eased travel restrictions for travelers from these countries.
“The four countries have been downgraded to high-incidence areas,” said the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), meaning their nationals can now travel to Germany and undergo a 10-day quarantine. The quarantine period could be shortened to five days if they test negative for COVID-19.
“If you were before entering (Germany) in an area with a high incidence, the relevant tests should not be carried out earlier than five days after entry,” RKI wrote on its website.
Prior to the change in classification, travelers from these four countries were prohibited from arriving in Germany except for indigenous citizens, in which case they had to be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival.
The decision, which takes effect Wednesday, comes after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday (7/3) that Britons who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 twice will soon be able to travel to Germany without quarantine upon arrival at airports.
On Monday (7/6) morning British Prime Minister Boris Johnson laid out plans to end the UK’s social and economic COVID-19 restrictions within two weeks, a test of whether rapid vaccine launches provide sufficient protection against the highly contagious Delta variant. [antaranews]
