The Federal Ministry of Health has issued a “general ban on transport” for travellers from Great Britain, Northern Ireland and South Africa. The ban will apply initially until January 6 - but residents of Germany will be allowed to enter the country from January 1. 

Germany extends ban on arrivals from UK and SA until January 6

The Ministry of Health has extended its ban on people travelling from the UK and South Africa, countries where the new, apparently more infectious, strain of COVID-19 is spreading. “The transport ban covers passenger traffic by train, bus, ship and flights directly from these countries,” the Ministry said in a statement. The ban will apply from December 22 until January 6, 2021. 

The Ministry added that German citizens and people who have valid German residence permits would be allowed to return to the country from January 1. However, anyone who arrives from the affected countries - or who has spent time there in the last 10 days - must be tested for coronavirus. “Existing quarantine rules for arrivals from risk areas continue to apply,” the regulation states. 

EU battles to combat spread of new covid strain

Health Minister Jens Spahn said that Germany was trying to prevent “potentially dangerous mutations from spreading in continental Europe”, as far as possible. “The entry ban from Britain, Northern Ireland and South Africa is a precautionary measure until we know more about the reported coronavirus mutations,” he said. 

After the UK announced that it had detected a new coronavirus mutation, which has been spreading rapidly in several parts of the country, a string of nations around the world began to suspend travel links. EU ambassadors are due to meet on Tuesday to work out a coordinate approach that will eventually allow them to lift border restrictions - for instance by testing all arrivals before granting them entry.