germany is imposing a travel ban
on countries most affected by new
coronavirus variants
the measure came into effect just hours
ago and it will remain
until at least the 17th of february
berlin says the restrictions are
necessary
to prevent a surge in new infections
the fear of new coronavirus mutations is
real in germany
it's also one of the main concerns for
german authorities
to prevent them from spreading fast in
the country the government has now
announced
new travel restrictions the interior
ministry has imposed an entry ban
until the 17th of february for travelers
from countries that are particularly
affected by them
brazil ireland portugal south africa the
uk
lesotho and eswatini
mutations have not hit germany as hard
as other countries
but a radio hospital in berlin was
forced to halt admissions after several
cases were found
of the mutation first discovered in
britain
and health officials are stressing that
the situation could deteriorate
we have to assume that if the more
contagious variants continue to spread
in this country
they will lead to even more cases in the
near future and the situation will
probably get worse
we must work together to prevent it
the travel ban is seen as a step in that
direction but it is still unclear how
effective it could be
for more let's bring in dw's political
correspondent hans brandt hans hello to
you
so we've been hearing the last couple of
days that the
incidence of coronavirus in germany has
in fact now
fallen below 100 per 100 000 residents
that's
in a seven day period for the first time
in months
so why is the government imposing this
travel ban
now well the answer is fear
fear of these new mutations of the virus
that
were discovered in brazil in south
africa and
in great britain um we've just heard how
uh effective uh how how infectious these
uh these variants are um they are said
to
cause explosions of infections for
instance in portugal
before that in ireland but also in great
britain
and germany is very very scared that the
success that it has had in the last few
weeks
with bringing down the infection rate is
endangered by these new variants
that's why these travel restrictions
have been imposed now
but we have to say this is in addition
to travel restrictions that have been
in place for weeks already everyone
knows how difficult international travel
has been in the last couple of months
and that is also the case for travels
between germany and the rest of the
world
so these restrictions simply are on top
of the restrictions that have been in
existence already
but they are the most severe that are
possible preventing or
prohibiting trouble between these two
countries at least between germany and
these in fact seven countries at the
moment
all right hans but what does this mean
for people
who in fact have to travel on a regular
basis between germany and one of the
affected countries either
to do business or to visit their family
members are they barred as well
yes indeed they are bad there are very
very few exceptions to this
people of german origin or rather german
citizens
and people who are resident in germany
are allowed to travel into germany
but reasons such as regular travel
between
countries that have been prohibited and
germany are not allowed
the exceptions concern medical
emergencies uh and
and uh emergencies in the family such as
such as a death in the family uh
exceptions there are also for um
commercial travel for people who
organize transport in other words
road transports and those kind of things
to keep the supply chains going but
regular travel for personal or business
reasons
is prohibited well we should mention
that this is
a unilateral german ban but hasn't
brussels been trying to discourage this
yes indeed there have been attempts to
uh make
to get to rules that are uh unified
across the european union
the interior ministers ministers met
this week
to try and do that though it was not
successful and so various countries in
germany up in europe have been imposing
their own bans germany but also france
has just decided not to allow any travel
outside the european union
belgium has imposed a complete ban on
tourist
travel for its citizens and we also see
this in other countries in canada
for instance which has closed down
travel to the south uh
this week so um these kind of travel
bans are widespread at the moment
everyone is afraid of these new variants
of the virus
dw's political correspondent hans bronze
thank you so much
well as hans just mentioned france has
also announced
international travel restrictions so
starting sunday people arriving on
non-essential travel from outside the eu
will be barred entry to that country the
french government
says it's responding to the virus
variants
first detected in britain and south
africa
france is also increasing its internal
restrictions
non-essential shops are to close and
police checks and rule breakers are
being
increased a nightly curfew comes into
force at
6 pm