Germany to lift travel ban from July 1

According to an international news agency, the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said that the country will lift its travel ban on most countries related to the COVID epidemic from July 1.

Countries recording infection rates of 50-200 cases per 100,000 people in seven days would no longer be deemed a “risk-zone”.

The German foreign minister said countries with high infection rates or different types of the virus, such as the United Kingdom and India were more likely to be affected.

"Hope and confidence are returning with the summer," he said.

The number of infections is declining in many places and more and more citizens have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

"After months of lockdowns, we are looking forward to more normalcy and this also applies to travel," the German foreign minister said.

Heiko Moss stressed that lifting sanctions should not be seen as an "invitation to negligence".

"travel with reason and a sense of proportion” would be the motto of the summer," he warned.

It should be noted that Germany has eased most restrictions in recent weeks, including allowing shops and restaurants to reopen.

However, shops still have regular testing rules for wearing masks, school children and housemaids.

It came as several countries – including the US, Canada, Austria, Ukraine, Cyprus, Lebanon and some regions in Portugal, Norway, Croatia, Switzerland and Greece, were removed from the current ‘risk’ list. The changes come into effect from June 13th.