Germany lifts ban on foreign tourists to control COVID-19

BERLIN: JULY 6 – The travel ban imposed by Germany on British, Portuguese, Russian, Indian, and Nepali tourists due to COVID-19 will be lifted from Wednesday.

According to Berlin, tourists who have been vaccinated and are not infected with Covid-19 do not have to stay in quarantine after arriving in Germany. However, in the case of a person who has not been vaccinated, he/she has to stay in quarantine for 10 days. Non-vaccinated people will however still be required to quarantine for up to 10 days, with the option to end their quarantine early with a negative test on the fifth day.

The United Kingdom, Portugal, Russia, India, and Nepal have so far been classified as epidemic risk countries due to the spread of the ‘Delta’ and ‘Delta Plus’ viruses. The delta species, initially identified in India, has been classified as a high-risk species by the World Health Organization.

Although travel bans were imposed on citizens of those countries to control the epidemic, no restrictions were imposed on German citizens or permanent residents, but they were required to remain in quarantine for 14 days upon entry into Germany.

The five countries will now be classified as countries with the highest number of infected people, according to the health ministry.

-RSS/AFP