Germany announced on Friday it will impose new travel restrictions in an effort to stop the spread of more contagious variants of coronavirus.
Details: All non-German residents traveling from countries considered to be ‘areas of special concern’ including the UK, South Africa, Portugal, Ireland, Brazil, Lesotho and Eswatini will be banned from entering the country, even if they test negative for the coronavirus. .
- The restrictions take effect over the weekend and will remain in effect until at least February 17.
- There are some exceptions for health professionals and some special cases.
The big picture: Several mutant strains of SARS-CoV-2 have been found to be more infectious in a number of countries.
- The B.1.1.7 variant, first discovered in the UK, has quickly spread across Europe.
- That variant forced a Berlin hospital to close on January 23, Reuters reports.
- According to data from Johns Hopkins University, Germany has recorded more than 2.2 million cases and 56,286 deaths.
Go deeper: Coronavirus variants require a harder response