As of: 08/27/2021 2:19 p.m.
Good news for holidaymakers in Spain: As of Sunday, the quarantine requirement will no longer apply when returning to Germany. In addition to Spain, parts of Portugal will no longer be classified as high-risk areas.
All of Spain and the greater Lisbon area in Portugal are no longer considered to be corona high-risk areas from Sunday. Due to the falling number of infections, the federal government is removing the regions from the list, as announced by the Robert Koch Institute. This means that all quarantine regulations for holidaymakers returning from Spain and Lisbon are no longer applicable.
Consequences for the tourism industry
On July 11, Spain was classified as a risk area in the middle of the holiday season due to the sharp increase in infection numbers, and at the end of July as a high-risk area. Since then, returnees who have not been fully vaccinated or have recovered have been placed in quarantine for ten days, from which they can only be released after five days with a negative test. This particularly affected the tourism industry on the popular holiday island of Mallorca.
Last Sunday, the Canary Islands and Catalonia with the tourist metropolis of Barcelona and the beaches of the Costa Brava were removed from the list of high-risk areas. Now the whole country is disappearing from the RKI list. In Portugal, from Sunday only the popular Algarve holiday region will be considered a high-risk area.
70 countries are considered high risk areas
Countries and regions with a particularly high risk of infection are classified as high-risk areas. Unlike in the past, it is not 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.
In addition to Spain and the greater Lisbon area, Chile will no longer be a high-risk area from Sunday. New on the list are three Caribbean countries: Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Lucia. After the changes, there will continue to be around 70 countries that are fully or partially classified as high-risk areas.