The health ministers of Germany’s states are calling on the federal government to implement stricter rules for entry into Germany to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The measures foreseen are to apply to entry from “virus variant areas,” including travellers from those territories who are only transiting through German airports.
“Making entry safer helps to prevent the Omicron variant from spreading so quickly,” federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach told dpa after an extraordinary meeting on Saturday with state ministers to discuss the epidemiological situation. “We cannot prevent its spread, only delay it. The longer it takes for Omicron to get a grip on Germany as well, the better,” said Lauterbach, who predicts the country will soon be facing a “massive” fifth wave of cases. Specifically, travellers from the age of 6 who have been in a virus variant region at any time in the last 10 days would have to present a negative PCR test before departure – a rapid antigen test will no longer be sufficient in this case.
The regulation would also apply to people who merely transit through a German airport before catching a flight.
“Passengers sometimes sit for hours in the same plane, and the virus does not distinguish between passengers who disembark or change planes,” said Klaus Holetschek, the health minister of Bavaria. “That’s why we’re asking the federal government to contain this possible source of infection, especially on long-haul flights, by requiring all passengers to present a PCR test – anything else would be absurd.”
Meanwhile, as of Sunday, France and Denmark will be considered “high risk” areas due to their infection rates. This means that all of Germany’s neighbouring countries, with the exception of Luxembourg, will be classified as such. Anyone entering from such an area who has not been fully vaccinated or has not recovered must be quarantined for 10 days, although the quarantine can end with a negative test five days after entry at the earliest. A “high risk” classification by the German government is less severe than a “virus variant area.” Only South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe currently have the “virus variant” designation.
Late Saturday evening, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) disease control body decided that Britain will be classified as a virus variant area by the federal government from Monday. This means that entry from Britain to Germany will be considerably restricted. A survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of dpa showed that a third of people in Germany will attempt to avoid unvaccinated people during the holidays. Some 35 per cent of the more than 2,000 respondents to the survey said they wanted to avoid meetings with unvaccinated people in the coming weeks. Almost a quarter said they would take special precautions at meetings with unvaccinated people. Fifteen per cent said they would pay special attention to distance and hygiene rules, and another 9 per cent said they would ask for a coronavirus rapid test before agreeing to meet. For 9 per cent of respondents, lack of vaccinations does play a role in deciding whom to spend time with over Christmas. For as many as 29 per cent, on the other hand, the lack of immunization was irrelevant.
Germany is in the throes of a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. On Saturday, the RKI reported the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week at 321.8. The previous day, the figure stood at 331.8. On Friday, some 1.1 million vaccination doses were administered, according to the Health Ministry. The majority – about 921,000 of them – were booster vaccinations. A total of 70.2 per cent of people in Germany now have complete vaccination against the virus. At least 58.4 million people have received the second injection, which is usually necessary for this. At least 25.2 million people, or 30.3 per cent of the population, have now received an additional booster shot. Germany’s 16 states have wide latitude in implementing their own coronavirus measures. On Saturday, Thuringia announced that as soon as an unvaccinated person attends a gathering, only two persons from another household are allowed to be present.
Source: MIA
