BERLIN (Reuters) – The United Kingdom, India, Portugal and Russia are no longer “areas of mixed concern”, the German Institute for Public Health announced on Monday, reducing travel restrictions on people from those countries.
The Robert Koch Institute said the four countries have been downgraded to “high-risk infection areas”, which means their citizens can now travel to Germany and be quarantined on arrival for 10 days.
The quarantine period can be shortened to five days if they test negative for COVID-19, and fully vaccinated people can avoid quarantine altogether.
Prior to the change in classification, travelers from the four countries were denied entry to Germany unless they were residents, in which case they had to remain in quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
The decisions, effective from Wednesday, come after Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Britons who have been vaccinated twice against COVID-19 will soon be able to travel to Germany without being quarantined on arrival.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday laid out his plans to end the social and economic restrictions of the Covid-19 virus in England within two weeks, which will check whether the rapid introduction of a vaccine provides sufficient protection against the highly contagious delta variant.
(Writing by Paul Carrell; Editing by Diane Kraft and Sonia Heibnest; Translated by Thomas Cobos)
/thumbs.vodgc.net/1-14-S15FuR1714053755879_480P.jpg)
