Icon: enlarge
Border controls in Poland
Photo: David Taneèek / dpa
Due to the sharp rise in the number of corona infections, the federal government has classified several countries as high-incidence areas.
This also includes the neighboring country of Poland, which borders on Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg and Saxony.
From Sunday, entry from the is only allowed with a negative corona test.
This was announced by the Robert Koch Institute.
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Kuwait, Paraguay and Uruguay are also on the list of high incidence areas from Sunday.
For the previous virus variant areas Great Britain and Ireland, however, the travel restrictions will be significantly relaxed.
The quarantine and compulsory testing for another popular holiday area for Germans will be completely lifted: The Portuguese Algarve will be removed from the list of risk areas, as before Mallorca and the other Balearic Islands.
However, the hotels in the Algarve are currently not allowed to accept tourists.
That means: Holidays on the beaches of the Portuguese south coast are still not possible, unlike on Mallorca.
In Poland, the number of infections has risen dramatically in the past few days.
Countries and regions in which the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants is over 200 within a week are classified as high-incidence areas.
There is no official incidence value for Poland.
The absolute number of new infections on one day was 25,998 on Friday, which is just below the record value of 27,875 from November.
There were 17,482 new infections in Germany
For comparison: In Germany, the RKI reported 17,482 new infections within 24 hours on Friday, significantly fewer than in Poland.
But Germany has more than twice as many inhabitants.
According to the Polish Ministry of Health, the British virus variant is now responsible for more than 60 percent of new infections in Poland.
So far, travelers from Poland can still be tested 48 hours after entering Germany.
There are no effective controls for this.
On the other hand, it is easier to check the obligation to test upon entry, even if no stationary border controls are planned as at the borders with the Czech Republic or the Austrian state of Tyrol.
However, random checks are possible behind the border as part of the so-called veil search.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has already passed a resolution to implement the new classification for cross-border commuters: You should submit a negative corona test every 48 hours.
In Brandenburg, commuters should only be tested twice a week.
Great Britain and Ireland have so far been classified as areas with particularly dangerous virus variants, for which a 14-day quarantine applies and an entry ban for certain groups of people.
As of Sunday, both countries will be "normal" risk areas again.
Entrants then only have to be in quarantine for ten days and can get rid of it with another test after five days.
In addition to the Algarve, Galicia in northwestern Spain, a region in Finland, Southeast Asian Malaysia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean have been completely removed from the risk list.
The Caribbean island of Curacao and individual regions in Finland, Croatia and Norway are new to the list.
Icon: The mirror
svv / dpa