Germany could be removed from the UK’s quarantine-free green list this week following a sharp rise in Covid-19 infections.
The country reported 5,986 new positive tests on Wednesday, well down on the 13,161 seen on Tuesday, but its seven-day infection rate has now reached 99.5 per 100,000 – up from around 50 a week ago.
It is thought that the Government’s new threshold for quarantine restrictions is 100 per 100,000, putting Germany right on the brink ahead of tomorrow’s weekly review of the travel corridors list.
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said the Government is “very likely” to remove Germany on Thursday, adding: “It’s had a very sudden increase. In the last two weeks its infection rate has gone up by nearly 200 per cent.
“Furthermore, on the measure of testing positivity it’s gone above four per cent, so that indicates widespread community transmission, which is not something the Government likes to see in their decision-making. Its numbers on every criteria are heading in the wrong direction.”
However, given that the UK’s infection rate is far higher – 233.2 per 100,000 – it might be argued that there is no point putting Germany on the red list.
Germany recently imposed its own restrictions on UK arrivals, meaning Britons visiting the country must present evidence of a negative test, or take a test on arrivals, to avoid a quarantine on German soil.
Other countries at risk of losing their travel corridors this week include Denmark (99.9 per 100,000), Sweden (92.4) and Cyprus (88.2).
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