Berlin / London Entry from the UK will be drastically restricted to protect against the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The UK will be classified as a virus variant area from Monday. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced this on Saturday evening. Due to the lightning-fast spread of the Omicron variant, the corona situation in Great Britain had worsened in the past few days.
A virus variant area is the highest corona risk category. The UK ranking is effective from 12:00 AM on Monday. According to the RKI, it is expected to apply until January 3, 2022. An extension is possible, it said.
Airlines are essentially only allowed to carry German citizens or people living in Germany from Great Britain to Germany. But it is not a flight ban. The rule also applies to rail or ship traffic. A two-week quarantine obligation applies to those entering the country – including those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered. It cannot be shortened by negative tests.
The health ministers of the federal states asked the federal government on Saturday to slow down the spread of Omikron with stricter entry rules from virus variant areas. The chairman of the conference of health ministers, Bavaria’s Klaus Holetschek (CSU), also affirmed that the federal government should advocate classification of Great Britain as a virus variant area in the short term.
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Great Britain reported a new high on Friday with more than 93,000 new corona infections, and on Saturday there were a good 90,000 new cases. The number of hospital admissions is also increasing again. The increase in Omicron cases is proceeding at a terrifying pace: 10,059 new Omicron cases were reported in Great Britain on Saturday – three times as many as the day before. In total, there are around 25,000 confirmed Omicron cases in the UK.
In London, where Omikron has already displaced the Delta variant, Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a disaster. According to reports, the first clinics are already preparing to move staff to intensive care units because so many employees have had to call in sick and the number of admissions is increasing.
The British Medical Association expects that 32,000 to 130,000 employees in the National Health Service (NHS) could be missing at Christmas, as the Guardian reported. The latter would correspond to a tenth of the entire workforce.
British government maintains great freedoms for the people
Despite the dramatic situation, the British government has so far continued to hold on to great freedoms for the citizens of England. It has recently been sharpened, but only with regard to the mandatory mask requirement indoors and 3G certificates for clubs. Working from home is also recommended.
Scientists, however, agree that more drastic measures are necessary against Omikron in order to avoid a collapse of the health system. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland decide independently about their Corona measures and in some cases are already relying on somewhat stricter measures.
Bavaria’s Minister of Health Holetschek said on Saturday after a special video switch from the heads of department that the introduction of the variant from the countries classified as virus variant areas by the federal government had to be prevented as well as possible. The states have therefore asked the federal government to adjust the coronavirus entry regulation.
In future, travelers over six years of age should submit a negative PCR test to the carrier before leaving virus variant areas, which should not be more than 48 hours ago when departing abroad. A rapid antigen test should no longer be accepted.
“We have to prevent the spread of Omikron for as long as possible and slow it down as much as possible so that even more people can be vaccinated,” says Holetschek. There is now scientific consensus that Omikron is very contagious.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) told the German Press Agency in Berlin: “Making entry safer helps to prevent the Omikron variant from spreading so quickly. We cannot prevent the spread, we can only delay it. The longer it takes for Omikron to have Germany under control, the better. “
Until recently, no European countries were considered virus variant areas; according to the Robert Koch Institute’s list, these are currently countries in southern Africa such as South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Omikron had been discovered in southern Africa.
France had also severely restricted entry from Great Britain because of the Omikron variant that was rampant there. Entry from and departure to Great Britain has only been possible since Saturday for compelling, overriding reasons. Tourist or professional reasons are not included.
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