Will you soon have to get tested before arriving in Germany? German Health Minister Jens Spahn announced on Monday that he would impose tests for the new coronavirus for travelers returning from “regions at risk”, in the face of a recent increase in cases of infections in the country.
"We must prevent returning travelers from contaminating other people without knowing it and thus triggering new chains of infection," the minister said in a tweet on his official account, adding that he would accordingly "decree a compulsory test for travelers returning from high-risk regions ”.
. @ JensSpahn ordnet eine Testpflicht für Reiserückkehrer aus Risikogebieten an. Dies teilte er heute in einer Schaltkonferenz den Gesundheitsministern der Bundesländer mit: "Wir müssen verhindern, dass Rückkehrer unbemerkt andere anstecken & neue Infektionsketten auslösen." pic.twitter.com/3GlourS3Cm
- BMG (@BMG_Bund) July 27, 2020Concerns across the Rhine
"There are reasons to be concerned," Chancellor Helge Braun said earlier this Monday at a press conference in Berlin after a meeting with regional health ministers. “Regarding compulsory tests, we have seen today that the Länder are ready to move closer” to such a possibility, he continued.
"The question is now to determine how they can be arranged, this must be precisely analyzed" in particular as regards the legal aspect, he specified, adding to bet "on a relatively quick solution".
A list of 130 countries considered "at risk"
So far, travelers returning from one of the 130 countries considered at risk, including the United States, Brazil, Israel and Luxembourg, must observe a 14-day quarantine, unless they are tested negative.
On Friday, the authorities decided to offer free screening tests on their return, on a voluntary basis. Stations have been installed for this purpose in airports. People returning from areas not considered epidemic hot spots also have the option of taking free tests.
Resumption of the epidemic
The recent rise in the numbers of daily infections with the new coronavirus above 800 cases has launched a debate in Germany on the relevance of imposing tests on travelers, as is the case in some countries, such as France. The idea is to mitigate the risk of a second wave of the pandemic.
Helge Braun said in this regard that “if we now have a higher level of infections or more new infections in the summer as a result of our behavior during our leisure time or vacation, then it will be all the more difficult to monitor the situation this fall ”, stressing that the new cases were to fall“ well below 500 ”per day.
He urged the Germans to respect the rules of distancing and hygiene.
The Bavarian case
In Bavaria, the head of government Markus Söder pleaded Monday for mandatory tests throughout the territory. Until then, the one who is seen as a potential successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, has announced the establishment of test stations open to all travelers on three highways near the Austrian border, as well as in Munich train stations. and Nuremberg, after the local airports.
“We cannot stop the new coronavirus. We can just try to reduce its expansion, ”said Markus Söder, also president of the CSU, the sister party of the CDU of the chancellor.
A death toll of 9,118 in Germany
Bavaria is one of the last German regions to go on holiday on Monday. Markus Söder has indicated that he is worried about the upcoming returns of travelers from their holidays who, in the private sphere, sometimes show "great recklessness" by not respecting physical distancing measures.
With 2,619 officially recorded deaths, out of a total of 9,118 across the country, this rich southern region has been strongly affected by the Covid-19, the heavy toll of which has been attributed in particular to holidaymakers returning from Austria, where the virus has circulated widely in several ski resorts. And the region has been talked about in recent days after the outbreak of a new outbreak.
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