Germany raises Covid-19 warning for France after latest spike in infections
France is now rated a high-incidence virus area, Germany’s health authority RKI said in an update on travel recommendations. The move means that travelers from France require a negative Covid test before entering.
Germany raised its Covid warning on France after a rapid rise in cases there as the European Union’s two biggest countries try to deal with a resurgent pandemic that’s compounding political damage from chaotic vaccination rollouts.
France is now rated a high-incidence virus area, Germany’s health authority RKI said in an update on travel recommendations. The move means that travelers from France require a negative Covid test before entering.
Meanwhile, France extended a lockdown to three additional regions to try to halt the spread of the virus.
Those moves are just the latest in what’s been yet another dramatic week for the EU, involving infighting between governments over vaccines, tensions with the UK over export controls, and an investigation into a stash of AstraZeneca Plc vaccines in Italy.
Voters trying to keep up have been whipsawed by developments, most notably when German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to call off a planned five-day lockdown over Easter after an intense backlash. That dramatic move encapsulated the view that Europe’s leaders are failing to get to grip with a situation that is costing lives daily.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday that cases are rising too rapidly and the virus variants are a dangerous driver of this trend. The number of people who have tested positive out of 100,000 over the past seven days has nearly doubled in the past month to 119.1, according to RKI.
“If this continues unchecked, we will face the danger that our health care system will reach capacity during the month of April,” Spahn said.
Germany will also introduce mandatory testing for everyone entering the country via air. From Monday, airlines have to make sure everyone is tested before boarding the plane.
“This is a precautionary measure to prevent the virus to spread because of holiday trips,” Spahn said.
France’s situation looks even worse. With close to 4,700 people placed in intensive care as of Thursday, the number is approaching the peak seen last fall, at 4,900, according the French health authorities. The Covid incidence rate is at 325, almost triple Germany’s.
Despite the deteriorating situation, French President Emmanuel Macron has ignored calls to put the country under a third nation-wide lockdown. He’s also defended his decision, saying numbers earlier in the year didn’t justify such action.
“I have no mea culpa to make, no remorse, no failure to declare,” Macron told reporters on Thursday.
Amid the Covid surge, European leaders are pushing to speed up their rollout of vaccinations, and are counting on a rapid pickup of deliveries in the second quarter.
There was some good news on that front on Friday, when the European Medicines Agency approved two vaccination plants in the Netherlands and Germany.
One of those is the Dutch Halix plant, which makes the drug substance for the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine and has been at the center of talks between the UK and the EU over a claim on the shots.