Germany places Portugal as high risk zone
This Thursday, Germany added Portugal, Spain and the United States to the list of “high risk” territories due to the increase in the report of covid-19 cases, a measure that takes effect from Saturday.
This means that, in order to enter Germany, travelers from these countries are obliged to register before traveling and to comply with a quarantine period, which can be avoided in case of presentation of a vaccination certificate, proof of recovery from the disease or a negative covid-19 test.
In addition to mainland Portugal, the Azores and Madeira are also on this list, which is valid until January 3rd, but which can be renewed.
Finland, Monaco and Cyprus are still listed as high-risk areas examined, while Austria was removed from the list by contrast.
According to the new rules of the German authorities, the digital certificate must be uploaded on the ‘website’ where the registration is carried out before the trip, and the contact details and destination address must be provided.
If the traveler does not present a certificate, he/she will have to comply with a 10-day quarantine, which can be reduced if the covid-19 test is negative after the fifth day of isolation.
The measures take effect from 00:00 local time on December 25 [23:00 de sexta-feira em Lisboa], as revealed by the Robert Koch Institute of Virology (RKI), responsible for the classifications.
The criteria used are not limited to the number of new infections, but also the speed of propagation of the coronavirus or the saturation of health systems.
This classification also leads to a recommendation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany that its citizens avoid non-essential trips to the countries concerned, which makes it easier for tourists to cancel flights without additional costs.
However, these measures do not imply a ban on travel to these countries.
Covid-19 has caused more than 5.37 million deaths worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest report by Agence France-Presse.
In Portugal, since March 2020, 18,840 people have died and 1,253,094 cases of infection have been recorded, according to data from the General Directorate of Health.
The respiratory disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, detected in late 2019 in China and currently with variants identified in several countries.