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A stewardess with mouth and nose protection in a Eurowings plane
Photo: Christoph Hardt / imago images / Future Image
With the latest changes to the list kept by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), there is no longer a country in Europe without a risk area.
On Friday, the institute declared all of Italy, all of mainland Portugal, almost all of Sweden and large parts of Denmark to be risk areas.
Changes will also be made for Greece and individual regions in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway.
The classification as a risk area occurs when a country or region exceeds the limit of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days.
A large part of Germany is also already a risk area according to these criteria.
The classification of the new risk areas will take effect on November 8th - and then new rules will also apply for those returning to travel.
Here is the overview:
Changes to the corona risk areas:
Italy:
So far, Calabria in the south was harmless - now the entire country is classified as a risk area
Greece:
The regions of Attica, Central Macedonia, East Macedonia and Thrace, Epirus and Thessaly are added as new risk areas.
Previously only Western Macedonia was affected
Portugal:
All of Portugal with the exception of the autonomous Azores and Madeira is now a risk area
Sweden:
The entire country with the exception of the province of Västernorrland is now considered a risk area
Denmark:
The entire country with the exception of the Faroe Islands and Greenland is now considered a risk area
Norway:
Only the province of Oslo was classified as risky
Estonia:
Only the Ida-Viru region in the east of the country is classified as a risk area
Latvia:
In addition to the capital Riga and the provinces of Latgale and Vidzeme, the Pierīga region is now also a risk area
Lithuania:
All of Lithuania with the exception of the Utena district is now a risk area
The classification as a risk area and the associated travel warnings from the Federal Foreign Office do not mean a travel ban, but should have the greatest possible deterrent effect on tourists.
Returning travelers should register online from Sunday
Returnees from the risk areas currently have to be in quarantine for up to 14 days, but can be freed from it prematurely with a negative test.
From Sunday they also have to register online before returning to Germany.
The website www.einreiseanmeldung.de should then be available worldwide, as announced by the Federal Ministries for Health and the Interior.
The new page replaces the previous paper exit cards that were issued on airplanes.
The information is sent to the health authorities at the traveler's destination.
So they should be able to control whether someone is complying with the quarantine obligation.
The data is encrypted according to official information and only made available to the responsible health department.
They should be automatically deleted 14 days after entry.
Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) explained that the new system relieves the burden on the health authorities: "You can find out quickly and reliably who is coming from a risk area and has to go into quarantine."
This could help avoid the emergence of new sources of infection.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) emphasized that the new website also made life easier for citizens.
"With the digital entry registration, we are finally ending the paperwork in travel."
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mrc / dpa