Germany set to tighten borders

GERMANY has implemented tighter border controls on its frontiers with the Czech Republic and Austria’s Tyrol province in an effort to stem the spread of more contagious coronavirus variants.

The new restrictions limit entry from those areas to German citizens and residents, lorry drivers, transport and health service staff and a few others, who have to register online and show a negative coronavirus test.

Interior minister Horst

Seehofer said the new checks may cause some delays at the border and German police “will not just wave traffic through”. Infection rates in Germany have been declining steadily in recent weeks but officials are concerned about the possible impact of variants first discovered in Britain and South Africa. Both variants have been reported in Germany. Significant numbers of cases of the latter have been discovered in Tyrol, whose residents have needed to show a recent negative coronavirus test to travel to the rest of Austria since Friday. The spread of the British variant has prompted a complete lockdown of some Czech districts on the border with Germany and

Poland.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany’s 16 state governors agreed on Wednesday to extend most of the country’s lockdown restrictions until March 7.