Germany drops Spain from virus high-risk list

 

Tourists from Germany arrive at Palma de Mallorca Airport following Berlin's lifted quarantine requirement for travelers returning from the Balearic Islands amid COVID-19 pandemic, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on March 21. REUTERS-Yonhap

Germany is dropping all of Spain from its list of "high-risk areas" for COVID-19, meaning that unvaccinated people arriving from popular Spanish tourist destinations will no longer need to go into quarantine.

Germany's national disease control center said the parts of Spain still on the list, which currently include the vacation island of Mallorca, will be removed as of Sunday. The Lisbon area of Portugal also will be taken off, leaving the coastal Algarve region as the only part of Portugal on the list.

Most people who haven't been vaccinated or recently recovered from COVID-19 have to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival to Germany from "high-risk areas," the lower of two German risk categories. Negative test results can be used to cut the quarantine period to five days.

A raft of countries remains on the "high-risk" list, including the United States, Britain and parts of France keonhacai Greece.

The Danish government will no longer consider COVID-19 as "a socially critical disease in Denmark," citing the large number of vaccinations in the Scandinavian country.

"The epidemic is under control. We have record-high vaccination rates," Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said in a statement Friday.

Starting Sept. 10, he said, "We can drop some of the special rules we had to introduce in the fight against COVID-19."

In practice, that will mean partially phasing out vaccination card requirements for some major events, like concerts and in nightclubs. On July 1, Denmark introduced a digital coronavirus passport that had to be shown when required.

"Although we stand in a good spot, we are not out of the epidemic. And the government will not hesitate to act quickly if the pandemic again threatens important functions in our society," he said.

On Thursday, Heunicke said that 80 percent of all people over the age of 12 in Denmark have been vaccinated. Getting the shot in Denmark is voluntary and is available to people 12 and older.