Travelling to Germany from Portugal & Russia will be banned starting from Tuesday, June 29, due to the high number of cases of the Coronavirus Delta variant detected in both countries in recent weeks.
The German Robert Koch Institute, a German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention, has unfolded on Friday, June 25, the new list of countries with COVID-19 variants, including both Russia and Portugal in the list.
The move means that aside from citizens and residents of Germany, all other travel from both these countries will be prohibited.
German citizens and residents who reach Germany from June 29 and on will be subject to a fortnight of quarantine, regardless of whether they are vaccinated against the virus or have tested negatively. The option to end the quarantine early with a negative test is not available for these travellers.
According to the head of the RKI, Robert Wieler, the Delta variant is expected to become the dominant strain in Germany by the autumn.
Currently, Germany bans travel from the following countries, which are considered to have a high number of COVID-19 cases:
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Eswatini
- India
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nepal
- Portugal
- Russian Federation
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
- South Africa
- Uruguay
- The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland of the Isle of Man, including the Channel Islands and all British Overseas Territories
As per countries in the other categories, following Friday’s update of the RKI, no new countries have been added to the list of the high incidence areas since the last change.
On the other hand, both Rwanda and Fiji are now considered new simple risk areas with increased SARS-CoV-2 infection risk, as well as Croatia’s Zadar County.
Several other countries have been removed from the list of risk areas, including Denmark, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and the Netherlands. Croatia’s Varaždin County is no longer considered a risk area, as well as all of Sweden, with the exception of the provinces Kronoberg, Norrbotten and Värmland.
Since June 25, 2021, Germany has permitted fully vaccinated third-country travellers for non-essential purposes like tourism and visiting friends and family members if two weeks have passed since they were fully vaccinated.
Previously on June 20, travellers from the USA, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia and Lebanon have been permitted to enter Germany regardless of their vaccination status after the government decided to include these countries in the list of epidemiologically safe third countries, upon a recommendation of the EU Council.
