Germany announced Friday that it was imposing new travel restrictions in an effort to curb the spread of more contagious coronavirus variants.
Details: All non-German residents traveling from countries considered to be “areas of varying concern”, including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Portugal, Ireland, Brazil, Lesotho and Eswatini, will be prohibited from entering the country. negative for coronavirus. .
- The restrictions will take effect over the weekend and will remain in effect until at least February 17th.
- There are some exemptions for health workers and some special cases.
The big picture: Several mutated strains of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected that are more contagious in several countries.
- Variant B.1.1.7, first detected in the United Kingdom, has spread rapidly throughout Europe.
- This variant forced the closure of a Berlin hospital on January 23, Reuters reports.
- Germany has recorded more than 2.2 million cases and 56,286 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
In depth: Coronavirus variants call for a tougher response