Germany Checks Returning Travelers As New Testing Rules Are Set

German police carried out spot checks at borders nationwide on Sunday to ensure travelers returning to the country were following the new testing requirements introduced to prevent a rise in cases of COVID-19 following the summer holiday season, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Photo Insert: Munich Airport, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

As of Sunday, people over the age of 12 entering Germany must either test negative for the virus, have recovered, or are fully vaccinated. The rule applies to those returning to the country by all modes of transport, in an expansion of the requirement that already applied to air passengers.

Police said fines would not be levied on the spot but that reports would be forwarded to the relevant authorities.

Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann appealed to holidaymakers to follow the new rules, saying, "We must do everything possible to keep the entry of additional infections to a minimum."

Test certificates are required for all those returning from regions identified as "virus variant" areas, whether or not people can prove they are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19. In a further change that entered into force on Sunday, Germany now only applies two categories to countries with higher infection levels.

They are either high-risk areas or virus variant areas.

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