Germany Advises Against Non-Essential Travel to Spain
Spain News
Published: 19 August 2020 14:26 CET
Updated: 19 August 2020 16:26 CET
The German government has added Spain to its list of high-risk countries advising against non-essential travel after the recent spike in COVID-19 infections.
The measures were announced after the Federal Interior and Health Ministers agreed that the country’s travellers had the potential to be infected, causing a second wave in Germany.
Currently, anyone travelling into Germany from high-risk countries must self-isolate for two-weeks and undergo PCR testing.
It comes after the German authorities previously advised citizens to only avoid the Spanish regions of Aragon, Catalonia and Navarra.
The move means that Germany will join another 21 Schengen countries in advising their citizens not to travel to Spain unless it is absolutely essential. However, the latest restrictions will not include the Canary Islands, a popular destination for many German tourists.
Currently, only five European countries have not advised of any restrictions on travel to Spain which are Luxembourg, Poland, Sweden, Portugal and Romania. However, Germany added 11 regions of Romania to its list recently after a spike in COVID infections were reported.
Anyone travelling to Germany from high-risk countries can avoid the mandatory quarantine of 14 days, if they either transit through Germany to another country or provide negative test results or get tested once they arrive in the country.
However, the Ministry of Health previously requested that a compulsory test was undertaken by citizens who arrived in the country from high-risk countries.
In a statement, the Ministry said, “According to the decision of the health ministers, travellers from non-risk areas should be offered voluntary tests within 72 hours, but not directly at the airport. Regardless of the place of departure, the tests will be free of charge. For details, travellers should contact the Ministry of Health, their airport and the relevant state authorities”.
Germany’s leader Angela Merkel warned of further restrictions being placed on citizens after the country recorded its highest number of cases in a day since April.
The Chancellor said that “increasing mobility” and “careless socialising” were the reasons that the infection rate had more than doubled over the past three weeks.
Germany has so far recorded over 228,000 COVID-19 cases and 9,305 deaths.
Source: https://www.schengenvisainfo.com
Image Credit: Flickr
