Germany bans travel from countries with virus mutations

BERLIN (AA) - Germany has decided to ban travel from the UK, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa and Brazil amid growing concerns about the mutated strains of coronavirus.

Non-citizens will be barred from traveling to Germany from these “high-risk” countries starting as of Saturday, German press agency DPA reported, based on sources in the government.

The southern African kingdoms of Eswatini and Lesotho will be added to this list on Sunday.

The ban will remain effective at least until Feb. 17, but certain exceptions will apply for German citizens, for people with a valid residence permit in Germany, for health professional workers and transit passengers, according to the report.

Germany managed to bring down its daily coronavirus case count below 20,000 this week, but the country's disease control agency urged citizens on Friday to strictly observe hygiene and other safety measures, due to the more contagious UK, Brazil, and South Africa mutations.

Prof. Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), told a news conference in Berlin that new virus mutations are a source of great concern for authorities.

“We’re receiving reports of growing number of infections and outbreaks due to these variants. We still don’t know completely the special characteristics of these variants,” he said.

“We don’t know yet whether they are more dangerous or not, and with regards to some of the variants, we also don’t know whether vaccinated people, and patients who have recovered from COVID-19, have immunity against them.”

The German government decided last week to extend strict lockdown measures at least until Feb. 14, due to concerns over virus mutations.

Schools, daycares, and all non-essential shops remain closed nationwide. Wearing “medical” masks is mandatory on public transport and companies are required to ask all employees to work from home.

Germany’s tally of over 2.19 million cases, which includes at least 55,752 deaths, is currently the fifth-highest in Western Europe, behind the UK, France, Spain, and Italy.