Editor in chief at IamExpat Media
Due to rapidly rising infection numbers, the federal government has added more regions to its list of coronavirus risk areas, warning residents of Germany against travelling there. More than half of all EU countries now feature on the list.
The German government has declared an additional 11 regions in EU countries to be coronavirus risk areas and is now advising against non-essential tourist trips. This includes regions directly bordering Germany in Czechia and Austria, as well as the capital cities of Denmark, Portugal and Ireland - Copenhagen, Lisbon and Dublin. In total, 14 out of 27 EU member states are at least partially designated as risk areas once again.
For the first time, regions in Denmark, Portugal, Ireland and Slovenia were declared risk areas due to the rapidly increasing number of infections in these countries. Further risk areas were also added in the following countries:
Spain remains the only member state that has been fully declared a risk area. You can find a full, updated list of affected regions on the Robert Koch Institute’s website.
Travellers returning to Germany from risk areas must be tested for coronavirus 48 hours before or after entry and then remain in quarantine until they have received a negative result. The travel warning is not an outright ban, but it is intended to have a significant deterrent effect. It also allows travellers to cancel their bookings free of charge.
The outbreak of the coronavirus crisis caused the Federal Foreign Office to issue an unprecedented worldwide travel warning on March 17. It was initially lifted in mid-June for more than 30 European countries, but after just a few weeks travel warnings had to be reactivated for certain areas, due to the rising number of infections.