Germany toughens rules for travel from Spain, Netherlands – KIRO 7 News Seattle

BERLIN – (AP) – Germany lists Spain and the Netherlands as “high incidence areas,” which means most people entering from those countries that are not fully vaccinated will have to be in quarantine starting next week.

The national epidemic control center, the Robert Koch Institute, announced on Friday that the change would come into force on Tuesday.

The change in status in the middle of the summer travel season will cause inconvenience for some travelers from Spain, a very popular tourist destination for Germans, and probably put off more would-be vacationers.

Spain and the Netherlands were already on a list of “risk areas”, the lowest of the three COVID-19 risk categories in Germany, but that had little practical impact, as anyone traveling from such areas can avoid quarantine with negative evidence .

People entering from “high incidence areas” can avoid quarantine if they can demonstrate that they are fully vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19. Others can shorten the 10-day quarantine by testing negative after five days.

Portugal, Cyprus and the UK are already listed as “high incidence areas”.

The infection rate in Germany remains very low compared to some other European countries. But it has grown steadily since it bottomed out on July 6, with 4.9 new weekly cases per 100,000 population. The climb is being driven by the more contagious Delta variant that is now prevalent. On Friday the infection rate was 13.2.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that the numbers are increasing with “worrying dynamics” and “we are seeing exponential growth”.

After the vaccination rate slowed in recent weeks, she appealed to reluctant citizens to get vaccinated and encouraged compatriots who are more enthusiastic to convince others.

By Thursday, 60.6% of the German population had received at least one vaccination and 48.5% had been fully vaccinated.

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