The federal government has eased the entry restrictions imposed on Great Britain, South Africa, Namibia and six other African countries due to the widespread use of the Omikron variant.

The nine countries, which also include Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, will be downgraded from virus variant areas to high-risk areas from Tuesday, as the Tagesschau reported. Most recently, airlines were essentially only allowed to carry German citizens or people living in Germany to Germany. The rule also applied to rail and ship traffic. There is also a two-week quarantine requirement for those arriving from virus variant areas - including those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered. Anyone who enters from a high-risk area and is not fully vaccinated or recovered has to be in quarantine for ten days and can only get rid of it with a negative test five days after arrival at the earliest.