New quarantine regulations: RKI declares Turkey, USA and Israel to be Corona

Due to the increasing number of corona infections, the federal government classifies Turkey as a high-risk area.

From Tuesday, travelers from the popular holiday country who have not been vaccinated or recovered will have to be in quarantine for five to ten days, as the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Friday.

The USA, Israel, Kenya, Montenegro, Vietnam and two French overseas territories will also be classified as high-risk areas on Sunday.

Portugal, on the other hand, is removed from the risk list, with the exception of the Algarve, which is particularly popular with tourists, and the capital Lisbon.

Fully vaccinated and recovered travelers from high-risk areas are exempt from the quarantine obligation.

All others have to isolate themselves after entering the country and can only get rid of it after five days with a negative test.

Almost 70 countries are high risk areas

Countries and regions with a particularly high risk of infection are classified as high-risk areas.

Unlike in the past, 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 in a country or a lack of data on the corona situation.

With the new classifications, there will be almost 70 countries that are classified, in whole or in part, as high-risk areas.

Even now, with Spain, southern France and Cyprus, popular holiday areas for Germans are among them.

Another top holiday destination is now being added with Turkey.

Turkey is fighting with Covid and forest fires

The number of corona cases in Turkey rose rapidly at the end of July, and well over 20,000 new cases are currently being registered every day. In July there were still around 7,000 per day. For comparison: In Germany, around 5578 new cases were reported on Friday - with a similar population. At the beginning of July, Turkey eased corona measures significantly: For example, no-night exit bans during the week and at the weekend were lifted, the gastronomy reopened, weddings and similar celebrations are allowed again.

Tourism is an important source of income in the country.

Last year it fell by around 70 percent.

In the first quarter of this year, revenues were about 40 percent lower than in the same period last year.

Most tourists travel to Turkey from Russia, followed by people from Germany.

In addition to Corona, the devastating forest fires in the south-west of the country are also causing problems for the industry.

Low impact for USA travel

The US rating is likely to have little impact on travel at first.

Washington is working on easing entry restrictions for Europeans.

When this will happen is still unclear.

The highly contagious Delta variant is still preventing the Americans from opening the border.

The German economy has long been hoping for it.

The classification as a high-risk area should be a damper for them.

Former vaccination "world champion" on the list

The classification of Israel as a high-risk area may surprise many. The country was once celebrated as the “world champion” in vaccination. But that was once. On Friday, Israel became the first country in the world to start the third vaccination for people over the age of 50, after more than 775,000 people over the age of 60 have received a third vaccination. But the number of those fully vaccinated threatens to stagnate. A good 58 percent of the more than 9.4 million Israelis are vaccinated - other countries have already overtaken the former world vaccination champion.

Young people in particular are hesitant to vaccinate, and the number of unvaccinated people in the country's Arab population is relatively high compared to the population. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has therefore addressed these groups in the past few days with the request to be vaccinated, and influencers should also campaign for the vaccination on social media. Above all, the delta variant is on the advance and in the middle of Israeli midsummer many people with mouth and nose cover tended to hold back. A rethinking is gradually becoming noticeable, also because many people are afraid of a new lockdown.

According to a report by the news website ynet, the Israeli government expects up to 2,400 seriously ill corona patients by mid-September. At the height of the pandemic in Israel in January, the number of seriously ill people had been around 1,200.