Germany Tightens U.K. Travel Rules to Slow Spread of Omicron

(Bloomberg) -- Germany tightened rules for travelers from the U.K. as the spread of omicron there threatens progress in reversing a virus wave that recently swamped German hospitals. 

The U.K. will be designated as a virus variant area from Monday, the highest risk category, which means restrictions on who can travel to Germany, the Robert Koch Institute, a national infectious-disease agency, said on its website.

Germany’s the latest country to adopt measures against the U.K., where cases of the new Covid variant are rising sharply. France temporarily banned entry for many Britons last week, and Cyprus will require visitors from the UK ages 12 or above, regardless of vaccination status, to self isolate. 

In Germany, travelers from the U.K. will be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine after arrival. The variant designation will stay in force at least until Jan. 3.

England is probably seeing hundreds of thousands of omicron variant cases a day, and U.K. health officials have urged the government to act quickly to prevent hospitals from being overrun. 

That comes as Germany has made progress in reversing its own spike in Covid cases, driven by the delta variant. Infections peaked in late November on a seven-day rolling basis. 

German Business Confidence Slips as Omicron Damps Outlook 

Vaccination rates in Germany have crept higher too, but still lag behind many European neighbors.  

Germany’s quarantine also applies to vaccinated people from the U.K., and travelers should be prepared to show a recent PCR test if they spent time in a variant area in the 10 days prior to entry, the RKI said. 

Germany reported 29,348 Covid-19 cases on Saturday, the lowest in a week, and hospital admissions have also slowed. But the country needs to thwart the spread of omicron because there are still “very many people” in intensive-care wards with the delta strain, Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek said on Saturday after a meeting with other state health officials. 

Germany has temporarily banned people traveling from variant areas if they’re not German citizens, residents or the partners or children of such individuals. Other special cases are also permitted, according to the Federal Foreign Office. 

The U.K. joins South Africa, where the omicron variant was first detected, and seven other southern African countries on Germany’s virus-variant list.

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