The Federal Government Agency of Germany and the Research Institute for Disease Control and Prevention, the Robert Koch Institute, excluded several third countries from the list of regions with virus variants, prompting the German authorities to simplify entry restrictions for those arriving from those countries.
At the same time, the institute announced that from August onwards there will be only two types of risk zones: high-risk zones (formerly high-risk zones) and virus variant zones, while a simple category of risk zones will no longer exist.
On Sunday, August 1, 2021 at 12:00, Germany removed nine third countries from the category of zones with virus variants and placed them in the category of high-risk zones, including South Africa:
Botswana
Esvatini
Lesotho
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia
Zambia
Zimbabwe
South Africa
The change of categories for these countries means that visa holders from these regions will finally get the right to travel to Germany, including holders of work and student visas.
Last weekend, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported that the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs had introduced a requirement for negative COVID-19 test results for travelers who had not yet been vaccinated and those who had not previously been infected with COVID-19, including those arriving from the area in a safe list.
The requirement will also apply to newcomers from the countries listed above, who are now required to provide evidence that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19, have recently been cured of the virus, or evidence of negative test results.
“When entering the Federal Republic of Germany after being in a foreign high-risk zone (formerly in a high-risk zone) or in a zone with virus variants, special obligations for registration, verification and quarantine must be met,” explains RKI.
What vaccines are allowed for travel to Germany
According to the latest RKI update, no new virus variation areas have been detected since the previous update. Currently, only Brazil and Uruguay remain in this category.
At the same time, Andorra was transferred from the category of simple risk zones to the list of high risk zones. On the other hand, the Dominican Republic is no longer a risk area.
According to the European Center for Diseases, Germany is one of the EU countries with the highest level of vaccination: 72.9% of the population received at least the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, and 59.1% of them are fully vaccinated. Prevention and control reveals.
However, according to the World Health Organization, Germany reported 2,454 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours and 30 deaths, bringing the number of COVID-19 infections in the country to 3,766.65 since the pandemic. There are currently 91,637 virus deaths in the country.