Germany lifts travel ban on India,UK, Nepal, Russia and Portugal

The German government has decided to lift travel ban on India, the UK and three other countries and permit travelers from these countries to enter Germany.

Germany had imposed travel restrictions on India, the UK, Nepal, Russia and Portugal due to the high delta variant incidence in these countries.

The Robert Koch Institute, a German federal government agency responsible for disease control and prevention, said that India, Nepal, Russia, Portugal and the UK have been downgraded to “high-incidence areas” from the current categorisation of “areas of variant concern”. This would make it easier for travelers who are not German residents or citizens to enter the country.

The current rules in Germany allow only its citizens to enter the country from a variant nation and are subjected to two-week quarantine, regardless of their vaccination status. The “high-incidence areas” status will allow anyone from such countries to enter Germany provided they produce a negative test on arrival and quarantine on arrival for 10 days, a Hindustan Times report said.

According to the report, the quarantine period can be shortened to five days if they test negative for Covid-19. The new norms will be effective from Wednesday.

The relaxation in curbs is driven by the fact that vaccines have been found effective against the delta variant, which was first discovered in India.

“We think that in the foreseeable future, those who have received double jabs will… be able to travel again, without having to go into quarantine,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said on Friday, the report said.