Germany to end mandatory tests for travellers, bans protests

Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn said Wednesday that the country will end mandatory coronavirus tests for travellers returning from high-risk areas abroad and will instead focus its testing strategy on people with symptoms.

Over the summer vacation period, COVID-19 testing in Germany nearly doubled to 900,000 per week, Spahn said.

People coming home from coronavirus risk areas were offered free tests at airports, allowing them to avoid the obligatory14-day quarantine if their result came back negative. The rule requiring travellers returning from high-risk areas to self-quarantine for 14 days will remain.

“With the end of the vacation period … this risk is going down again. We have to focus more on patients with symptoms and those who had contact with COVID patients”, Spahn said.

He did not specify when the testing strategy would change, but it is likely that the decision will be made at a Thursday meeting between chancellor Angela Merkel and the state governors. Many other details have yet to be finalized.

Authorities in Berlin have also banned several protests planned for the weekend against coronavirus pandemic measures.

On Wednesday, Germany reported 1,576 new confirmed coronavirus cases. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the country has reported 236,429 cases and 9,280 deaths.