Updating the list of countries that are highly affected by the COVID-19 disease, the German authorities have announced that five countries will be removed from the high-risk list on Sunday, December 12. According to the announcement, the following countries will no longer be part of the high-risk list:

• Armenia
• Iran
• Mongolia
• The Philippines
• Romania

Based on the current entry rules that Germany has, the decision means that starting from December 12, vaccinated and recovered travellers who reach Germany from one of the countries mentioned above will be required to follow less stringent entry rules, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Travellers from Mongolia, who have been fully vaccinated or recovered from the COVID-19 disease will no longer have to register their entry before travelling to Germany. Moreover, travellers from these countries will also be released from the quarantine requirement.

On the other hand, strict entry rules will continue to apply to unvaccinated and unrecovered travellers who reach Germany from one of the countries that are to be removed from the high-risk list. They can enter Germany only for absolutely essential purposes provided that they follow entry rules, such as testing and quarantine requirements.

In regards to Germany’s high-risk list, no new countries have been added to it. Still, the list currently includes Switzerland, Poland, Liechtenstein and several other EU/Schengen Area countries such as Croatia, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechia, and Hungary.

All travellers from a high-risk area need to fill in a digital entry form. Moreover, those who haven’t been vaccinated or recovered from the virus must stay self-isolated for ten days upon their arrival in Germany.

Similar to the high-risk list, Germany’s virus variant areas list has also remained unchanged. Currently, the virus variant list includes Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

Previously, the German leaders agreed to impose stricter restrictions in order to prevent the further spread of the COVID-19 and its new variant. Since December 2 all persons who haven’t been vaccinated or recovered from the virus are refused access to several indoor places.