The spring travel season is approaching. That also means taking care of Corona requirements when you go home from abroad. In view of the development of the pandemic, loosening is possible.
Berlin – As of this Thursday, the Corona rules for holiday returnees to Germany will be relaxed, especially for families with children.
The federal cabinet approved corresponding changes to the entry regulation, as the Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday at the request of the German Press Agency. Only countries in which more dangerous virus variants than omicron are rampant should be considered high-risk areas with more extensive requirements for entry. Children under the age of twelve should be able to test themselves directly from a quarantine when they return from high-risk areas, for children under six it should be omitted for these areas.
Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had already made it clear when the plans were presented that traveling would be easier for families. However, you should still be careful while on vacation. Regulations would be relaxed after the omicron wave peaked. The new regulations should take effect as early as Thursday, as the ministry explained – Friday was initially targeted. In general, the 3G rule still applies to entries from all countries: Anyone who has not been vaccinated or has recovered must have a negative test.
Only a few high-risk areas left
In the future, only areas in which variants with “more worrying properties” are rampant than the omicron variant that dominates in this country – for example with similar pathogenic properties as the delta variant, should be classified as high-risk areas, the ministry said. This means that areas where omicron is predominant are no longer high-risk areas. There is also no obligation to register and no obligation to separate when entering Germany.
It should be possible for children under the age of 12 to test themselves directly from a five-day quarantine that would otherwise apply after returning from high-risk areas. So far, the isolation for children under 6 ends automatically five days after entry – but without the opportunity to test themselves earlier.
In the future, the ordinance will also state: “Persons who have not yet reached the age of six are not isolated.” This exception is intended to take into account “the special psychosocial burden on children in this age group” through isolation. According to the ministry, however, this does not apply when returning from “virus variant areas”. In this way, countries can still be classified in which variants with particularly threatening properties occur – for example with extensive circumvention of vaccination protection.
In general, the following applies to people entering the country: Anyone who comes from high-risk areas and has not been fully vaccinated or recovered must be in quarantine for ten days and can get out of it five days after entry at the earliest with a negative test.
To justify the facilitation for children, the Ministry also points out that the Standing Vaccination Commission has not yet issued any general vaccination recommendations for children under the age of 12. Travel facilitation for families was also a topic of the most recent Corona consultations by the federal and state governments in mid-February. dpa
