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A protest against Corona measures in Bern, Switzerland
Photo: Anthony Anex / dpa
The fourth corona wave floods Europe.
Due to the high number of corona infections, the federal government is now classifying Poland and Switzerland as high-risk areas.
The Robert Koch Institute announced on Friday.
Both countries are popular with Germans as winter travel destinations.
The regulation applies from Sunday.
Liechtenstein, Jordan and Mauritius are also classified in this way.
Thailand, Uzbekistan and St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean will be removed from the risk list.
From Sunday onwards, more than 60 countries around the world will be wholly or partially listed as high-risk areas by the RKI.
There are also eight virus variant areas in Africa, for which even stricter entry restrictions apply.
They had been classified in the highest risk category because of the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Anyone who enters from a high-risk area and is not fully vaccinated or recovered has to be in quarantine for ten days and can only get rid of it with a negative test five days after arrival at the earliest.
In the meantime, there were no corona high-risk areas in the European Union in late summer.
Countries and regions with a particularly high risk of infection are classified as high-risk areas.
But 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.
The classification as a high-risk area is automatically accompanied by a travel warning from the Federal Foreign Office.
It makes it easier for tourists to cancel trips that have already been booked free of charge, but it does not mean a travel ban.
Poland's government believes it has already broken the fourth wave.
For Friday, the Polish Ministry of Health reported around 27,000 new infections within one day, a few hundred fewer than the previous day, and 470 deaths since the previous day.
On Wednesday, the number of deaths had reached 570, the highest value in the current pandemic wave.
Poland registered the highest value in April with over 35,000 new cases and 954 deaths within one day.
The right-wing populist government in Warsaw points out, in response to criticism of its reluctance to contact restrictions and compulsory vaccinations, that the hospitals still have the situation under control.
So it has so far not had a lockdown for unvaccinated people.
mrc / dpa