Covid: Germany imposes a quarantine for travelers coming from the south of France

Germany will impose from Sunday a quarantine for unimmunized travelers from three regions of southern France - Occitanie, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur and Corsica - facing a resurgence of Covid cases- 19, the Robert Koch Institute for Public Health Surveillance (RKI) announced on Friday.

Travelers coming from these tourist regions will have to observe a quarantine of 10 days if they do not have a health pass proving that they have been vaccinated twice or are considered cured.

Five days of isolation with a negative test

This isolation period may however be reduced to five days upon presentation of a negative test.

The French overseas territories and departments such as Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy are also concerned, indicates the RKI.

The institute has decided to classify these regions in areas at "high risk" of contamination by the new coronavirus, with an incidence of new cases greater than 200 per 100,000 inhabitants over seven days.

In Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, for example, the incidence currently exceeds 500. Spain, another popular tourist destination for Germans, has also been included in this category since the end of July, while the Netherlands, who are experiencing a lull in new infections, however, have emerged.

As the vaccination campaign slows down in Germany, the country is worried about a fourth wave of the pandemic, although the resurgence of infections caused by the highly contagious Delta variant remains at this stage more moderate than in most of his neighbors.

As of Friday, it recorded 3,448 new cases in 24 hours and 24 deaths, with an incidence rate of 20.4.

Some 54% of the population received two doses of the vaccine.

To avoid a runaway contamination on its soil after returning from the summer holidays as a year ago, Germany recently generalized the obligation for travelers to present a vaccination certificate or a negative Covid test when entering the country. .

Merkel studies new measures

This obligation, which applies from the age of 12, previously only applied to people arriving by plane and is now extended to all modes of transport. Cross-border workers and travelers in transit are however exempt. Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet on Tuesday the heads of government of the German regions, competent in health matters in accordance with the federal system, to take stock in particular of the health situation and the means to encourage the reluctant to be vaccinated, including via paid tests as in France.