Germany to lift travel restrictions from 5 countries, including UK and India

Germany has decided to reclassify the five so-called virus variant countries as “high incidence areas”, lifting a ban on entry for travelers from those nations who are not German residents or citizens, the country’s health agency announced on Monday.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said India, Nepal, Russia, Portugal, and the UK would be reclassified from Wednesday, meaning any traveler will be able to enter as long as they observe quarantine and testing rules.

Germany introduced its “virus variant country” travel category in a bid to stop new coronavirus variants that have not yet spread widely on home soil.

Given the increasing spread of Delta, which was first detected in India, and research suggesting vaccines are effective against it, “we will look at the situation in the next few days”, German health minister Jens Spahn had said last week.

Chancellor Angela Merkel had also given some indications of softening in Germany’s stance towards travelers from Britain during a visit to London on Friday.

In stark contrast to that, Merkel had last month called for tough restrictions, including longer quarantine, for people traveling from Britain, where the Delta variant has caused a surge in cases.

Only citizens and residents of Germany are permitted to enter from a variant country and are subject to a two-week quarantine, regardless of whether they are fully vaccinated or can provide a negative COVID-19 test.

By contrast, anyone can enter from a high-incidence country as long as they provide a negative test on arrival. They must in principle enter a 10-day quarantine but can end it after five days with another negative test.

Travelers from high-incidence areas are also exempt from quarantine if they have been fully vaccinated.

Countries where variants other than Delta are circulating, such as Brazil and South Africa, remain in the variant category.