The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs has updated its list of the EU areas where the risk of Coronavirus infection has increased, based on the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute of October 22.

Starting from October 24, 2020, at 12:00 am, travellers reaching Germany from several EU countries as neighbouring Switzerland, parts of Austria and Italy amongst others, will have to quarantine for a fortnight.

The decision has been taken after the RKI noticed that the number of Coronavirus cases surpassed the threshold of 50 newly infected people per 100,000 inhabitants in the last seven days in several new areas in Europe.

As a result, German holidaymakers returning from the following countries, as well as every other traveller reaching Germany from there, will have to quarantine for a period of two weeks:

• Ireland
• Liechtenstein
• Poland
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – the other overseas territories, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (Guernsey, Jersey) are excluded

In addition, those coming from the following areas of the Member States will also need to quarantine:

• Austria: the federal states of Salzburg, Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Burgenland and Styria
• Bulgaria: the administrative districts of Razgrad, Sofia city and Sliven
• Croatia: Karlovac, Osijek-Baranja, Zagreb, Varaždin and Bjelovar-Bilogora counties
• Estonia: the Jogeva region
• Hungary: the regions of Heves, Zala and Somogy
• Italy: the regions of Aosta Valley, Umbria, Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Veneto, Latium, Abrruzzo, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna, Sardinia and the autonomous province of Bolzano-South Tyrol
• Sweden: the provinces of Jönköping and Östergötland
• Slovenia: the Posavska and Goriška regions

On the other hand, the Ida-Viru region in Estonia and the Canary Islands in Spain are no longer considered risk areas; therefore, travellers arriving from these two EU areas will no longer have to quarantine upon arrival in Germany.

In addition to the quarantine requirement, those entering from high-risk zones are obliged under the German law to fill out an exit card in order to inform the responsible health department about their location in Germany.

According to the RKI, the classification of EU countries as a risk area is based on a joint analysis and decision by the Federal Ministry of Health, the Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

The evaluation is based on a two-stage assessment, with the first being the number of newly infected people per 100,000 inhabitants.

“The number of infections and the type of outbreak (locally limited or extensive), test capacities and tests carried out per inhabitant as well as measures taken in the states to contain the infection rate (hygiene regulations, contact tracking, etc.) are decisive for the assessment,” the Institute notes.

Last week, on the evaluation published on October 15, Germany had added the whole of continental France, Slovakia, Malta and the Netherlands as high-risk countries. Whereas on the list updates of October 7, Belgium and Iceland, in addition to regions of other EU countries, were announced as high-risk, and have remained so.