The German government is to consider introducing strict new restrictions on international travel in an effort to prevent coronavirus mutations from entering the country, a prime minister said Tuesday.
The measures include tight border controls and the closure of German airports to almost all flights.
“The threat from the many viral mutations requires us to consider and consider major measures,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Bild newspaper.
“This includes much stricter border controls, especially at the borders to high-risk areas, and a reduction in air traffic to Germany to near zero, as Israel is currently implementing to prevent virus mutations. “
Angela Merkel, the chancellor, is believed to be behind the proposed new measures, which have been pushing for a total travel ban according to leaked details of government talks.
Despite a steady decline in new infections in Germany over the past two weeks, Mrs Merkel is said to be convinced that the new mutations could cause an explosion in cases.
Germany is already closed to tourism, with hotels and resorts not allowed to take tourists and entry into the country is restricted to EU citizens and residents, but it is believed that the chancellor is more concerned with the risk of Germans returning from overseas trips.
“I’ve asked the question a hundred times – why can’t we ban travel? I always get the answer that we are a free country,” she told party colleagues there. the secret conference call at the weekend. “You can’t make travel unattractive, for example through quarantine … We need to reduce air traffic so that there is nowhere to go.”
Mrs Merkel is believed to have asked Mr Seehofer to prepare a series of options to restrict international travel over the weekend. Proposals under consideration include compulsory quarantine and a total ban on entry for those coming from dangerous places.
But a proposal to close German airports is likely to attract almost all passenger flights. Lufthansa, which last year required € 9 billion (£ 8 billion) in funding from a German taxpayer to stay away, could suffer a major new loss.
Israel has already begun banning almost all passenger flights at its airports to keep out the virus – a measure that seems particularly appealing to the country, which has tight border control and largely connected to the outside world by air.
There is debate as to whether it could be as effective for Germany, with its long open borders at the heart of the Schengen Area.