The German government has agreed to ban all travel from South Africa, Britain, Portugal and Brazil to limit the spread of the more contagious variants of the coronavirus (COVID-19) raging in these countries
Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said the restrictions are due to be signed on Friday and could come into force as early as Saturday.
Seehofer announced this ahead of a meeting with EU ministers on Thursday, in an effort to limit new virus mutations entering the country.
The ban will include all air, train and road travel, but German nationals who are returning home could be excluded.
“To protect our population, there should be no entry from regions where these variants of the virus are rampant,” he said on the fringes of a virtual meeting with his EU counterparts.
Earlier this week, Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated that she was in favour of tighter travel restrictions, stating at an internal CDU / CSU meeting that Germany should make travel as uncomfortable as possible.
Several other political parties joined the call on Wednesday. Thomas Kreuzer, the Christian Social Union (CSU) parliamentary group leader in Bavaria, said: “In order for restrictions to be successful in one’s own country, the constant introduction of the virus from abroad must be prevented.”
However, the proposal has attracted criticism from the opposition. FDP interior expert Stephan Thomae said that far-reaching travel restrictions were an expression of governmental failure.
“Coronavirus and its mutations are extremely dangerous,” said Thomae. “Nonetheless, we are not at war.”
He called for more rapid coronavirus tests to be offered at national borders and airports.
