Germany requires quarantine from unvaccinated travelers from US, Turkey, Israel

BERLIN

The German government has upgraded Israel, Turkey and the United States to having a high COVID-19 risk, triggering a minimum five-day quarantine requirement for those who are unvaccinated, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said on Aug. 13.

Montenegro and Vietnam are also affected by the upgrade, while Portugal has been downgraded and is no longer a high-risk area, with the exception of Lisbon and the Algarve, RKI said.

Beginning on Aug. 15, travelers from the U.S. and Israel who are not vaccinated or recently recovered from COVID-19 will be required to quarantine following their entry into Germany.

For travelers from Turkey, a popular tourism destination for Germans, new rules for travel will go into effect Tuesday.

Those who can present proof of vaccination or recovery will be exempted from the mandatory quarantine. They would only need to complete a digital entry registration.

Unvaccinated travelers will be required to self-isolate at home for five days, and the quarantine requirement will end if they test negative on the fifth day. Otherwise, the mandatory quarantine will continue for five more days.

Germany started to tighten travel rules last month, after a rapid increase in new coronavirus cases, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.

Last month, Spain and Netherlands were included on Germany’s list of “high-risk areas.” Currently, the list has more than 60 countries, including the UK, several regions of France, Portugal, Russia, Egypt, and South Africa.

This week Germany recorded its highest daily number of infections in three months, as the Delta variant’s prevalence in the country has reached 98%.