Faced with a New crown outbreak and concerns about the Variant virus, Germany announced on Thursday, Feb. 11, that it will soon close its borders to the Czech Republic as well as several parts of Austria.
The German Interior Ministry said the states of Bavaria and Saxony today asked the federal government to classify the border areas of the Austrian state of Tyrol and the Czech Republic as virus variant areas and impose border controls. The matter has been agreed by the chancellor and deputy chancellor, and the new rules will be implemented from this Sunday.
Germany had already issued an order in late January this year banning the entry of people who were classified as virus variants, and only in rare cases could they enter the country. Now the ones that worry Merkel’s government the most are the South African variant, which is actively spreading in the Austrian Tyrol, and the British variant, which is actively spreading in the Czech Republic. Merkel also said on Wednesday that she made a special phone call to Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to discuss the outbreak situation in the Austrian state of Tyrol.
According to Kurz, the mountainous region of Tyrol is among the places in Europe that have been hit hardest by the South African variant. Currently, all those who want to leave the area must produce a negative test certificate for the new coronavirus or face a fine of up to 1,450 euros. However the government of the German state of Bavaria, which is close to Tyrol, is concerned that Tyrol is not really taking it seriously and fears that it could become the next center of superspread of the new coronavirus. For its part, the Czech government has announced on Thursday that it will impose a three-week control on the three districts where the outbreak is most severe, preventing most residents from leaving, or others from entering.
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