BERLIN — Germany announced Sunday that travelers from France’s northeastern Moselle area will face further restrictions due to the high rate of variant coronavirus cases there.
Germany’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute, mentioned it would add Moselle to the list of “variant of concern” areas that already includes nations such as the Czech Republic, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
Travelers from those areas should show a recent negative coronavirus test before entering Germany.
The Moselle area in northeastern France includes the town of Metz and borders the German states of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate.
Clement Beaune, the French minister for European affairs, mentioned France regrets the decision and is in negotiations with Germany to try to lighten the measures for 16,000 residents of Moselle who work across the border. Specifically, he mentioned France does not want them to face the daily PCR virus tests that Germany has applied elsewhere to travelers along some borders.
“We don’t want that,” he mentioned.
Beaune mentioned France is pushing for the use of easier, faster-testing strategies and for tests every 2-3 days rather than every day. More talks were expected later Sunday, he mentioned.
The weekly rate of new infections in Moselle, at more than 300 per 100,000 individuals, is well above the average for France’s eastern area and the national average. In Germany, the number of cases per week currently stands at almost 64 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The Robert Koch Institute recorded 7,890 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Germany over the past day, taking the total to over 2.4 million cases. The demise toll rose by 157 to 70,045.
