Status: 08/30/2021 7:15 p.m.
According to the recommendation of the EU, people entering from the USA should again be subjected to stricter controls. The reason is the high incidence. Restrictions are also to apply again for five other countries.
The EU recommends stricter entry rules for people from countries like the USA and Israel. A total of six countries have been removed from the list of third countries for which corona restrictions are no longer to apply, as the Council of Member States announced. This is due in particular to the high incidence figures.
In addition to the USA and Israel, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Lebanon are also affected. However, the changes will have no consequences for people who want to travel to Germany from the USA and Israel and the aforementioned Balkan states. The Federal Republic of Germany has been classifying the federal states as high-risk areas for some time. Entrants who have not been vaccinated or have recovered therefore currently have to be in quarantine for five to ten days.
EU member states are free to decide
Germany classifies countries and regions with a particularly high risk of infection as high-risk areas. In the meantime, however, it is no longer just the infection numbers that are decisive. Other criteria are the speed at which the virus is spreading, the burden on the health system or a lack of data on the corona situation.
The background to the German classification that has already taken place is that it is ultimately up to the EU states whether they follow the EU recommendations. The Federal Republic is so often more restrictive and acts earlier when the number of cases in a country increases.
“We insist on comparable rules in both directions”
The EU only added the United States to its list of third countries in June, which should no longer be subject to entry restrictions. However, there was also criticism of this decision because the USA for its part has so far adhered to far-reaching corona entry bans for people from Europe. “We insist that there are comparable rules in both directions for people entering the country,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently on the subject.
Countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea are still on the list of countries for which entry restrictions are no longer recommended.