The federal government wants to avoid the spread of corona mutations with entry bans.
The ban on entry from virus variant areas has been extended.
Corona measure by the federal government: entry bans for virus variant areas extended
Update from February 18, 2021
: The federal government's ban on entry from the virus variant areas is to be extended.
The measure was initially planned until February 17, but the strict rules will probably apply until the beginning of March.
The regulation constitutes a transport ban for
airlines as well as rail, bus and shipping
companies.
The corresponding paper, which Jens Spahn sent to the other members of the government on Monday, is available to the
Spiegel
.
In it, the Minister of Health speaks of the fact that "the hard-won progress of recent weeks" should not be jeopardized by "an unchecked spread of virus variants in Germany".
Therefore, the risk of “entry through travel movements from virus variant areas” should be limited.
The virus variant areas mainly include
Great Britain and South Africa
, but the mutations have now also spread widely in neighboring countries such as the Czech Republic and Austria.
Therefore, strict border controls were ordered at the weekend.
Only all Germans and foreigners living in Germany as well as transit passengers are allowed to enter the country.
+
Due to the spread of the South African Corona mutant in Tyrol, there are now border controls again.
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Corona: Five new virus variant areas in Africa - an entry ban now applies
Update from February 8, 2021
: Since February 7, five other countries have been included in the virus variant areas that are separately identified by the Robert Koch Institute.
They have a particularly high risk of infection with the coronavirus due to widespread virus mutations.
This now also includes
Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe
.
With
South Africa, Lesotho and Estwani
there are now
eight of the virus variant areas in Africa.
Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal and Brazil are also still virus variant areas.
Last week the federal government issued a transport ban for these countries.
This means that from now on only all Germans and foreigners living in Germany as well as transit passengers from these areas are allowed to travel to us.
The movement of goods is also excluded from the travel ban.
+
The government has issued an entry ban for some corona high-risk areas.
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Government takes it seriously: Corona high-risk areas are blocked from entering the country - Lufthansa will continue to fly for the time being
Update from February 1, 2021
: Since Saturday, extensive entry bans have been in place in Germany for countries in which particularly contagious variants of the corona virus have spread.
The transport ban passed by the cabinet on Friday affects
airlines as well as rail, bus and shipping companies
and is initially
in force
until February 17
.
The entry ban currently applies to the following countries:
Great Britain (since January 30)
Ireland (since January 30th)
Portugal (since January 30th)
South Africa (since January 30th)
Brazil (since January 30th)
Lesotho (since January 31)
Estwani (since January 31)
According to an analysis by German air traffic control, there were
1,601 arrivals and 1,572 departures from the risk areas of Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa and Brazil
between January 1st and 26th alone
, as reported by the German press agency.
That would be around 60 per day.
Lufthansa currently offers 55 return flights for the affected areas.
However, there is no complete standstill of air traffic due to the entry bans - according to a spokesman for Lufthansa, flights should continue to take place as planned, as there are some exceptional regulations.
All Germans and foreigners living in Germany are exempt from the entry ban
.
Transit passengers and goods traffic are also allowed.
In addition, there are exceptions for the transport of medical personnel, ambulance flights, organ transport and the transport “for urgent humanitarian reasons”.
Federal government wants to massively restrict travel from Corona risk countries
Update from January 28, 2021
: The federal government's plans to
restrict air traffic from high-risk areas
seem to be becoming more and more concrete.
The background is concerns about the further
spread of the coronavirus mutations
.
According to
Bild.de
information, the cabinet commissioned Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Wednesday to prepare a corresponding order.
It should be about entry bans for high-risk countries in which the virus mutations have spread - for example Great Britain, South Africa, Brazil and Portugal.
As
Bild.de
wants to know, such an
entry ban is also
in the room
for the Netherlands and Denmark
.
In a circular procedure, this should then be presented to the other departments and approved by Friday.
Accordingly
, the restrictions on air traffic from risk countries could be implemented as early as next week
.
Cargo and transport flights should, however, be excluded from the considerations.
An exit ban in high-risk countries is currently not legally feasible.
Holiday ban due to corona mutation?
German travel association criticizes government: "stigmatization of travel"
Original message from January 27, 2021
: "Why can't we ban travel?" According to
Bild.de
, Chancellor Angela Merkel is said to have said this sentence
at an internal video conference of the Union parliamentary group leaders on Sunday evening.
The government is particularly concerned about the coronavirus mutations *, which is why, in
the opinion of the Chancellor, air traffic should be thinned out so that there is nowhere to go
.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer should put together plans that could drastically limit travel to Germany.
Corona: Reduction of air traffic "to almost zero": German travel association criticizes government plans
“The threat posed by the numerous virus mutations demands that we also examine drastic measures and discuss them in the federal government.
This includes much stricter border controls, especially at the borders to high-risk areas, but also the
reduction of air traffic to Germany to almost zero
, as Israel is currently doing to prevent the introduction of the virus mutation, "said the Interior Minister according to
Bild. de
.
At a meeting of the Union parliamentary group on Tuesday, according to n-tv information, Merkel is said to have found soothing words: “Nobody wants a travel standstill - or what I'm reading again - but we just want that travel does not cause too many mutations to us come."
The German Travel Association, however, calls for more objectivity in the debate about freedom of travel.
In a statement, he explains that there should be “
no further stigmatization of travel
”: “Even now tourist travel has almost completely come to a standstill as a result of government decisions, and the business travel sector is also completely devastated.” Instead, politicians should prefer themselves Focus on the vaccination strategy and the digitization of the health authorities.
The travel industry proved last summer that safe travel after the second Corona wave was possible due to hygiene concepts and numerous precautionary measures.
"In addition, in the public debate, the Federal Government should urgently remember that freedom of travel is a fundamental right - not a privilege that should be granted politically."
Also interesting
: Travel without restrictions for corona vaccinated people: The first countries in Europe allow entry without quarantine.
Will the air traffic be completely stopped due to Corona?
These are your rights as a customer
Should there nevertheless be further restrictions in tourism - and should air traffic be restricted as far as possible - customers are usually
entitled to a refund of the ticket price
.
Due to air transport law, airlines are obliged to bring passengers from the place of departure to the destination, as the travel
lawyer
explains
at the request of
reisereporter.de
.
If the airline is unable to operate the flight, customers have the right to a refund.
Airlines normally have seven days to repay this amount - even if that doesn't always work in practice.
In the case of hotel costs, travelers can also expect reimbursements if traffic to a country is completely interrupted and German law applies.
Often, however, customers are
dependent
on the
goodwill of the operator
.
However, you can
withdraw from your contract free of charge for
package tours due to
unavoidable, extraordinary circumstances
.
Travel warnings or entry bans can represent such exceptional circumstances.
(fk) * Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editorial network.
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List of rubric lists: © imago-images