Following a public holiday over the past two weeks, the Robert Koch Institute is now publishing its current list of risk areas as usual – with a large number of new high-risk areas.

Everything again as always! The list of virus variant regions has been canceled for the time being, at least until a new virus type is identified that is significantly involved in the infection process. Also this week’s update will reappear on Friday as usual. This week, the Robert Koch Institute is classifying 39 countries and territories as high-risk areas, with only one other country not classified as a risk zone because of current developments. Here’s a full overview of the current high-risk areas.

39 new high risk areas

How long will the borders be open with the spread of the Omicron virus variant? A question the EU is currently working on, as reported by Tageschau. The Schengen Agreement is the greatest asset of Europe’s achievements. Once again, borders within the EU should not be closed, as the new European Minister of State Anna Luhrmann has now noted. Its purpose is to prevent the border from being closed again. Late last year, EU member states agreed to reduce the validity of vaccination certificates and focus on a fresh campaign. Still, more and more countries are adopting an expanded testing obligation, which was rejected at the last summit.

Our aim is to ensure that EU free movement is better protected in crisis situations. We don’t want to come back to a situation where borders are being closed.

Anna Luhrmann, European Minister of State AFP

These countries also include Sweden and the United Arab Emirates. While Scandinavians have recently tightened entry rules, the Emirate of Dubai ended its attempt last year for test-free entry for fully vaccinated individuals from Germany.

Here is a full overview of all the countries that have been classified as new high-risk areas:

• Angola
• Argentina
• Australia
• Bahamas
• Bahrain
• Belize
• multinational state of bolivia
• Cape Verde
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Ivory Coast
• Estonia
• fiji
• France – French overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, St. Martin and St. Barthélemy
• Gabon
• Ghana
• Granada
• guinea
• island
• Israel
• Jamaica
• Queue
• Kenya
• Comoros
• Kuwait
• Luxembourg
• Gardner
• Mauritania
• Netherlands – Netherlands Aruba and overseas parts of the Kingdom of Curaçao
• Nigeria
• Panama
• Rwanda
• Zambia
• Sweden
• Sierra Leone
• South Sudan
• go
• Uganda
• Uruguay
• United Arab Emirates

Travelers from high-risk areas should go into quarantine upon return to Germany. Only complete vaccination or proof of a live infection exempts from quarantine liability. For all others, the exception is that the quarantine can be shortened after five days with a further test. It should be noted that from August 1, all travelers going to Germany will have to provide proof of these three options. In addition, admission registration must be completed.

Ukraine is no longer a high-risk area

There’s still some positive news to report this week. On Tuesday, the full list of virus isolated areas was removed. Since then, countries such as Great Britain and South Africa have again been considered only high-risk areas. You should still watch the transition process very closely. In the UK, the seven-day incidence is currently 1,864.8.

It looks very different in Ukraine. It is the only country that is no longer classified as a high risk area according to the current risk assessment. The seven-day incidence is currently 35.6, with the vaccination rate of fully vaccinated citizens at only 32.14 percent. The effectiveness of the new classifications will not go into effect until next Sunday (January 9, 2022, at 12:00 AM).

Findings on the Robert Koch Institute’s new risk list

The Robert Koch Institute’s update is rarely so unbalanced. A total of 39 countries and territories have been classified as high-risk areas. From Sunday, travelers from these countries must follow the applicable entry rules. It looks different for Ukraine. It was the only country removed from the list of high-risk areas. Accordingly, there is little positive news since the beginning of the week after the list of virus-affected zones has been exhausted.