Germany needs self-isolating arrivals from Portugal, the Estonian & Greek regions

By adding the entire territory of Portugal to the list of COVID-19 high-risk areas alongside two other regions of Estonia and Greece, the German authorities have extended the list of persons obliged to self-isolate upon arrival.

According to a decision published on Friday on the website of the Robert Koch Institute, the federal agency and research institute in charge of disease control and prevention in Germany, the Tartu region of Estonia and the region of western Greece are now considered to be high-risk areas as of Sunday 29 November.

At the same time, due to the growing number of cases of COVID-19 in Portugal, the entire country is now considered to be extremely hazardous.

"With the exception of the autonomous region of Madeira, all of mainland Portugal and now the autonomous region of the Azores are considered to be a risk area," states the RKI.

Four more regions of EU Member States, on the other hand, are no longer considered to be danger areas, as follows:

• Greece: the area of the Peloponnese, which was on the High Risk List from 15 November to 29 November

• Ireland: areas in the Midlands (17 October – 29 November), South-West (17 October – 29 November) and West (17 October – 29 November)

Based on a joint review and decision by the Federal Health Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the RKI classifies high-risk areas.

The Institute added Latvia, Lithuania, the Uusimaa region of Finland, including the city of Helsinki, and Central Greece, to the list of high-risk regions last week while withdrawing Iceland from the list following a decline in the COVID-19 cases reported in the island country.

Both travelers from high-risk countries and regions arriving in Germany, as well as those who have been in these areas for the last ten days previous to their arrival in Germany, are obliged to separate themselves for a period of 10 days.

On the fifth day they will abandon self-isolation only if they are checked for COVID-19 and have a negative result.

All travellers are expected to register digitally from the second week of November onwards before reaching Germany.