Some Romanian, Bulgarian areas risky for virus: Germany

By Erbil Basay

BERLIN (AA) - Germany on Saturday added some regions of Romania and Bulgaria to its list of risky areas for the novel coronavirus.

The cities of Blagoevgrad, Dobrich, and Varna in Bulgaria and Romania’s Arges, Bihor, Buzau, Neamt, Ialomita, Mehedinti, and Timis regions were added to the list of Germany’s disease control and prevention agency Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

The German Foreign Ministry also issued a travel warning for the cities and regions, where COVID-19 cases have risen over recent days.

The RKI's list includes 130 high-risk countries, including the US, Russia, Egypt, Israel, and Turkey.

From the EU, the list has Luxembourg, Spain’s Catalonia, Aragon, and Navarra regions, and the Belgian city of Antwerp.

As of Saturday, Germany has made COVID-19 tests mandatory for travelers from high-risk areas.

The step comes as Germany’s total infection count reached 215,366 on Saturday, with 1,122 more infections registered over the past 24 hours.

At least 12 more fatalities have raised the country’s death toll from the disease to 9,195.

* Writing by Burak Dag in Ankara.