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I've got a queasy feeling when he brings his guests home, says Hasan Bozkurt.
The Berliner has been working as a taxi driver for ten years.
At the moment, he mainly picks up travelers at BER Airport in Berlin.
“The danger is great,” says Bozkurt, referring to the risk of infection from returnees who get into his taxi.
For himself, but also for his family and children.
“On the other hand, we have to work,” he says.
Otherwise he won't make any money.
Above all, Bozkurt worries that passengers from Great Britain and Ireland are also among his passengers - that is, from those countries in which infections with a much more contagious mutation of the corona virus have recently increased dramatically.
And machines from London or Dublin land in the German capital almost every day.
Three times higher incidence
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Until last Wednesday there was a general entry ban from the United Kingdom, but also from South Africa, but flights to Germany are now possible again.
Because a regulation of the Federal Ministry of Health regulates the entry since January 14th.
Anyone entering from a risk area in which a particularly high number of infections take place (seven-day incidence of more than 200 per 100,000 inhabitants) or particularly contagious virus variants are widespread, must now be able to show a negative corona test before entering the country.
In addition to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ireland and Brazil are also listed, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) updates the list continuously.
In addition, travelers must undergo another test no later than 48 hours after their arrival.
In addition, they are still subject to a ten-day quarantine obligation, which can be lifted after five days at the earliest if the test result is negative.
The situation in Great Britain and on the Irish island has not eased for a long time.
According to the Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day incidence in the UK was 488 cases per 100,000 population on Sunday, and 517 in Ireland - a good three and a half times as high as in Germany.
The corona mutation B.1.1.7 spreading there is also said to be 50 to 70 percent more contagious.
By train and bus to the Quran
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And so there are increasing doubts as to whether the new rules provide the desired level of security.
"Entry quarantine in Germany does not consist of being accommodated in hotels at the airport or the border," writes Andrea Kießling, infection protection lawyer at the Ruhr University in Bochum, on the short message service Twitter.
In fact, state ordinances only provide for going to your own apartment "immediately after entering the country directly", for example in Berlin.
The ordinance does not make any specific requirements on the means of transport or travel time.
And so many air passengers from high-risk areas are likely to take the train, bus or taxi home after their arrival.
In addition, a corona test is only ever a snapshot.
The Federal Ministry of Health and the Robert Koch Institute also refer to this regularly.
It is true that the sampling of the test must not be more than 48 hours ago on entry.
Nevertheless, travelers can still be infected with the coronavirus in the meantime - and thus pose a risk to other passengers or at the destination.
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Before the latest regulation, which provides for a double test for returnees from high-risk and mutation areas, a general transport ban temporarily applied to the United Kingdom and South Africa.
But even then there were apparently generous exceptions, as can be seen from a response by the Federal Ministry of the Interior to WELT demand.
In the period from January 1st to 13th, the Federal Police Headquarters approved a total of 215 flights from the United Kingdom and South Africa - despite a general ban - to Germany.
192 of these came from Great Britain and Northern Ireland and 23 from South Africa.
In the first two weeks of January, the Federal Ministry of the Interior was allowed to allow exceptions for people with residence and right of residence in Germany.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior emphasizes that the special permits were always valid for entire flights and were not granted to individual travelers.
There were also no exceptions for people without a negative corona test result.
The general ban on carriage was in force in the United Kingdom and South Africa from December 22nd and initially until January 6th, before being extended to January 20th.
With the new corona entry regulation of the federal government of January 14th, the most recent extension of the ban was no longer valid.
The passengers themselves don't worry about their entry.
"I think it was already safe," says Siabhra Feeney, who last Thursday traveled on a Ryanair flight from the Irish capital Dublin to Berlin.
There was enough space to other passengers in the rows of seats, and the airline also checked whether passengers had a negative corona test result.
Many also seem to have come to terms with the mandatory quarantine.
“I have to go through that,” says Thyssen Mohrin, who also came from Dublin.
She has prepared as best she can for the isolation in her Berlin apartment.
Offices only make spot checks
However, it seems unclear how strictly the health authorities actually check compliance with the quarantine obligation.
"The health authorities randomly check people entering from risk areas," says the Berlin Senate Department for Health.
For the specific procedure, refer to the individual health authorities.
The authorities in the two airport cities of Frankfurt and Düsseldorf initially left inquiries about the specific procedure for immigrants unanswered.
The airlines, however, want to be aware of their responsibility.
"Before departure, Easyjet checks all the necessary evidence for entry into the respective destination country," the company explains when asked.
In addition to visa requirements, this also includes negative corona test results that were ordered as part of the protection against infection.
"If passengers are unable to produce mandatory entry documents, they can unfortunately not be transported," it says.
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The airline currently does not offer any flights between the United Kingdom and Germany.
As of now, these should not be resumed until February.
Competitor Ryanair is currently still flying guests from Great Britain to Germany.
The Irish low-cost airline also declares that it will require passengers from high-risk areas such as Ireland to give a negative test result when dropping off baggage or at the gate.
In any case, test companies such as Centogene should be happy about a higher demand.
The Rostock company has increased capacities at Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf and Hamburg airports and decided to extend the opening times.
"We anticipate that the number of people to be tested will increase significantly and that the demand for test results will increase significantly within 90 minutes," says board member Volkmar Weckesser.
“Test measures will be with us for a long time to come and have once again become more important with the new virus mutants.
Few positive tests
On Saturday 2356 passengers were tested at Frankfurt Airport alone.
The test was positive in 19 of them - which corresponds to just under 0.8 percent.
Most people who tested positive had no symptoms, Centogene often emphasized in the past.
However, the company does not record the place of departure of the flight passengers.
Only the health authorities know - if at all - how many people who have tested positive enter from the areas in which corona mutations are rampant.
While a possible nationwide introduction of FFP2 masks in local public transport is being discussed at the political level, these are not yet mandatory in airplanes.
Lufthansa also sees no need for this.
"We are currently not planning any mandatory FFP2 masks on board," said a spokesman for the airline.
In a question-and-answer catalog on the Internet, the airline justifies its refusal of FFP2 masks with the "relatively high airway resistance that can cause health problems for people with previous illnesses".
Literally: "In addition, even healthy people often have problems wearing this mask for an entire flight."
The airline, in which the federal government is involved, considers its current concept with the obligation to wear everyday or cloth masks and the ban on masks with valves to be sufficient.
For flights to and from Italy, however, it should be taken into account that the authorities there do not allow fabric masks.
The Lufthansa on-board crew are provided with FFP2 masks on all flights, which they can use, but do not have to.