19th May, 2021

The new regulation, which came into force on May 13th and was agreed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet, means people who are fully vaccinated, can prove they have recovered from Covid-19 or can show a recent negative test will no longer have to quarantine after arriving from a coronavirus risk area. Germany splits countries or regions up according to risk. These are as follows:

Virus variant areas:

Anyone entering Germany from these countries, including India, Brazil and South Africa, must self-isolate for 14 days. There is still no exception here, even vaccinated people and those who’ve recovered from Covid-19 must quarantine at home. Everyone coming from these countries must also show a negative Covid test before boarding their flight.

High-incidence areas:

This category includes about 44 countries with more than 200 new infections per 100,000 residents in seven days, including some popular holiday destinations such as neighbouring France, Turkey, Croatia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Egypt, Tunisia and the Maldives. Here, a quarantine obligation of 10 days still applies, from which you can be released from after five days with a negative Covid test result.

Fully vaccinated people and those who’ve recovered from Covid-19 are exempt from the quarantine and testing obligations as they can show proof of their status.

Risk areas:

These are countries where the 7-day incidence is above 50. Anyone coming from one of these countries doesn’t have to quarantine if they can present a negative Covid-19 test result or proof of vaccination/recovery.

Risk free areas:

For these countries and regions, too, the obligation to test before boarding the flight to Germany for unvaccinated air travellers still applies, but otherwise there are no longer any restrictions.

Travellers who have visited a risk area, high incidence area or area of variant of concern in the last ten days must register before arriving in Germany and carry proof of registration with them upon entry.