Germany to reintroduce border controls ...

... with five countries due to coronavirus crisis

A German police officer wearing a facemask controls drivers at the French and German border between the cities of Strasbourg and Kehl on March 12, 2020 as part of measures taken due to the COVID-19 ou

AFP/The Local

news@thelocal.at

15 March 2020

15:43 CET+01:00

Germany will reintroduce border controls with France, Austria, Switzerland, Luxemburg and Denmark from Monday morning due to the coronavirus crisis, to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced the closures on Sunday evening during a press conference.

"The spread of the coronavirus is progressing quickly and aggressively...one of the most important measures will be to cut off the chain of infection," Seehofer told reporters as he announced the new border controls.

The measures will take effect at 8am Monday (and from 6am on the Denmark border) with goods and cross-border commuters exempt.

German citizens and people with a residency permit will be allowed to return to the country.

People "without a significant reason to travel" and those suspected of having been infected with the virus will not be allowed to cross the affected borders, he said.

Seehofer stressed the new controls would be temporary, and would be reassessed "from time to time".

But the high point of the coronavirus crisis had not yet been reached, he warned, urging citizens to avoid social contact.

The decision had been taken after the Robert Koch Institute, which is responsible for public health in Germany, had declared that the French border region of Alsace-Lorraine as a risk area.

"This sparked a lot of questions and unrest in the neighbouring states," he said.

Germany is one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The country now has more than 5,500 confirmed coronavirus cases, a jump of over 1,000 compared to Saturday. There are 12 reported deaths.

A source close to the matter had told AFP earlier on Sunday about the planned border closures, confirming a report in the German media.

The popular tabloid Bild had reported that the closures would take effect on Monday.

Closing borders was not only to contain the COVID-19 epidemic but also to prevent panic bulk purchases by foreigners, which was apparently causing supply problems in areas around the borders, according to Bild.

'Limit border crossings to a minimum'

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Seehofer met with state premiers from affected German regions on Sunday to agree the closures, the newspaper claimed.

Paris, meanwhile, said the decision had been taken in coordination with the French government.

Yet the French Interior Ministry insisted that the border would not be fully closed.

"We are going to limit border crossings to the strict minimum, while allowing people and merchandise to go through. It's not a closure," a ministry source told AFP.

While the German measures currently apply to five countries, other neighbouring countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic have also closed their borders or introduced severe restrictions.

Germany had until now resisted closing its borders so as not to endanger the Schengen agreement, which guarantees free travel between European countries and has already been put under strain in recent years by the migrant crisis and the threat of jihadist terrorism.

But with Europe now considered to be the epicentre of the pandemic, calls to close the border with France had begun to emerge shortly before Sunday's decision.

"The spread of the virus has to be slowed. The basic rule should be: anyone who doesn't urgently need to cross the border should not cross the border," said Thomas Strobl, interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg state, which borders France and Switzerland.

Coronavirus: Outbreak spreads in Europe from Italy

By BBC

Cases have emerged for the first time in countries such as Austria following the Italian outbreak
Several European countries have announced their first coronavirus cases, with all appearing to be linked to the growing outbreak in Italy.

Austria, Croatia and Switzerland said the cases involved people who had been to Italy, as did Algeria in Africa.

The first positive virus test has been recorded in Latin America - a Brazilian resident just returned from Italy.

Italy has in recent days become Europe's worst-affected country, with more than 300 cases and 11 deaths.

But its neighbours have decided closing borders would be "disproportionate".

Health ministers from France, Germany, Italy and the EU Commission committed to keeping frontiers open at a meeting on Tuesday as new cases of the virus emerged throughout Europe and in central and southern Italy.

"We're talking about a virus that doesn't respect borders," said Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza.

His German counterpart Jens Spahn said the neighbours were taking the situation "very, very seriously" but acknowledged "it could get worse before it gets better".

Media captionMark Lowen was on the ground at the edge of Italy's coronavirus lockdown area
In the UK, schoolchildren returning from holidays in northern Italy have been sent home, with the government issuing new guidance to travellers.

But Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there were no plans to stop flights from Italy, which attracts about three million British visitors each year.

"If you look at Italy, they stopped all flights from China and they're now the worst-affected country in Europe," he said.

What's the latest around Europe?

In Austria, a young Italian couple who live in Innsbruck in the Tyrol were confirmed to have the virus. One of the pair worked at a hotel, which has been put in lockdown. The couple's home is also sealed off.

Switzerland said a man in his seventies living in Ticino, bordering Italy, had been infected in the city of Milan on 15 February and was now in isolation.

A man in Croatia who recently returned from Italy became the first confirmed patient in the Balkans
In Spain's Tenerife, up to 1,000 guests were locked down in a hotel after an Italian doctor and his wife tested positive for the virus.

Spain reported its first case on the mainland, involving a woman in Barcelona who had been to northern Italy.

France and Germany also reported new cases involving people who had recently been to northern Italy.

What's the global picture?
Italy is one of three global hot-spots outside China. In Iran, fewer than 100 people have officially been infected but it's assumed the numbers are far higher. The infection of the country's deputy health minister has deepened fears that the virus has already spread widely.

More than 1,000 people have been infected in South Korea, where 10 people have died. The country has the most infections outside China.

Many of the cases are linked to a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the city of Daegu. All the church's more than 215,000 members are now being tested by health authorities, according to reports.

Media captionIran's deputy health minister appeared unwell at a news conference before testing positive for the coronavirus.

In Brazil, local media reported on Tuesday that an initial test on a 61-year-old man who had recently been to northern Italy had come out positive.

They said the man from São Paulo would be tested again for final confirmation.

The individual, whose name was not given, arrived back in Brazil at the height of the carnival festivities, when millions of people travel around the country. Officials fear the timing of his return makes it more likely the coronavirus could have spread.

Most of the cases of the new coronavirus remain in China, where the virus originated last year.

According to the latest figures published on Wednesday, 78,064 people have been infected since the outbreak began.

Health officials also reported 52 more deaths on Tuesday, the lowest daily total in more than three weeks. The overall death toll in mainland China is now 2,715.

Numbers of new infections there have been declining in China, and attention has now turned to clusters of cases abroad and transmission between countries.

The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said the sudden increase in cases in countries outside China is "deeply concerning".

On Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the virus could bring "severe" disruption to the US, with one official saying it was not a question of if but when the virus would become a global pandemic.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged all nations to "tell the truth about the coronavirus", saying that Washington was concerned that Iran may have concealed "vital details" about its outbreak.

Of the current hot-spots outside China, Iran is the most concerning because of the lack of an accurate picture of how widespread the outbreak really is, said Dr Nathalie MacDermott, an expert in infectious diseases at King's College London.

Most of the reported cases have been people who are elderly and dying, she said. "It seems like we're hearing about the tip of the iceberg and missing that chunk underneath who may be younger and may not be particularly unwell."

There are fears that the many Muslim Shia pilgrims and migrant workers who will have travelled between Iran and other parts of the region in recent weeks could have already spread the virus.

Iran is believed to have been the source of the first cases reported by neighbouring Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman, which have now imposed restrictions on travel to and from the Islamic Republic.