Germany moves to thwart virus outbreaks from summer travellers

German officials agreed to more stringent restrictions but stopped short of a complete ban on travel. PHOTO: AFP

BERLIN (BLOOMBERG) - Germany tightened travel rules to prevent outbreaks of the coronavirus as the summer vacation season gets under way.

Federal and state officials on Thursday (July 16) agreed to more stringent restrictions but stopped short of a complete ban on travel to and from domestic hot spots, which was advocated by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The goal is to avoid spreading the disease in vacation areas and prevent infections from returning travellers, the government said in a statement.

Here's the main points of Germany's travel rules:

- Travelers from a hot spot can only check in to accommodation without quarantine restrictions if they submit a negative coronavirus test that's been conducted within the previous 48 hours

- Travelers returning from a German hot spot are not subject to quarantine as long as regional authorities adhered to outbreak rules, including heightened monitoring and testing, contact tracing and restrictions to limit public contact

- Travelers returning from risk areas outside Germany are required to inform local health officials and quarantine at home for 14 days Germany defines a hot spot as an area that has more than 50 infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a seven-day period.

The list of foreign risk areas is maintained by the Robert Koch Institute, a federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention.

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