Germany removed several Latin American countries from covid high-risk zones list

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The list to be removed from midnight on March 3 includes Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, and several European countries.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) of virology supports its decision because the ability of the omicron variant to cause severe disease progression is much lower compared to previously dominant mutations.

The statement said that only those regions with a high incidence of the prevalence of variants with comparatively higher virulence than omicron would be considered high-risk areas for covid.

Therefore, it says that no country will be considered a covid high-risk zone for the omicron variant.

Thus, non-immunized travelers will no longer have to comply with a ten-day quarantine after entry into Germany, which was envisaged for high-risk areas and could be shortened by presenting a negative test five days after arrival.

Due to the worldwide spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants, however, persons aged 12 years and older are still required to present a vaccination certificate against covid or a negative test result upon entry into Germany.

Thus, as of next midnight, there will no longer be any country on the list of high-risk areas for covid, nor on the list of risk by virus variant, which currently no longer includes any region, and which is reserved for those countries in which a new mutation with particularly worrying characteristics appears.

Meanwhile, German health authorities reported 186,406 new infections and 301 deaths with or from covid in 24 hours, compared to 209,052 and 299 a week ago; there are an estimated 3,460,100 active cases.

Thus, the number of infections since the beginning of the pandemic exceeded 15 million, with 15,053,624 confirmed positives.

The cumulative incidence continues to fall and stands at 1,171.9 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days, compared to 1,213.0 yesterday and 1,278.9 a week ago.

On the other hand, the arrival of the first doses of the Nuvaxovid vaccine from the U.S. pharmaceutical company Novavax, based on proteins, has not brought the expected boost to the vaccination campaign, which has stagnated below 80% of the vaccinated population.

Thus, as of Tuesday, 76.3 % of the population (63.5 million people) had been vaccinated, 75.5% (62.8 million) with two doses, and 57.1% (47.5 million) had received a booster dose.

With information from EFE

More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.