Traveling to Berlin in times of COVID: restrictions and advice

For this first article, I decided to explain how to get to Germany at the moment. The restrictions and management of the health crisis are not the same as in France.

I would like to remind you that it is preferable to travel only for professional reasons, leisure is not to be privileged and not recommended for the moment.

Regarding flight restrictions.

To prepare for your trip, first of all, when purchasing your plane ticket, you will have to look at the restrictions imposed by the airline.

Having traveled with Air France, the restrictions were to perform a negative PCR test 48 hours before departure. For safety, remember to check your company's website because for some flights the test is requested 72 hours before departure. And of course the wearing of the obligatory mask in the airport as well as during the whole flight.

Regarding country restrictions.

For all persons entering German territory (by air, sea, river, rail or road) who have stayed or transited in the last 10 days in an area classified as "at risk" by the German health authorities will have to comply with four main obligations:

• Measure 1: To begin with, you must register to inform the local health authorities of your entry into German territory, this happens on the site: https://www.einreiseanmeldung.de this will generate a document that will be presented before getting on the plane but also upon arrival. The site is in English or German.

• Measure 2: Submit a test (PCR or antigen) carried out a maximum of 48 hours before arriving in Germany to enter German territory. Please note, this is mandatory, you can be refused entry into the country if this is not done.

• Measure 3: Relay a quarantine of 10 days at his home, without receiving a visit (excluding other members of the home); in certain regions (Länder), this quarantine can be reduced to 5 days on presentation of a second negative PCR test carried out in Germany no earlier than 5 days after entering German territory (This is what I realized for Berlin).

• Measure 4: Inform the health authorities of any appearance of symptoms.

Some regions (Länder) may set up various exceptions to the quarantine obligation, in particular for stays of less than 72 hours. It is strongly recommended that you check with the Land of their place of stay for the applicable legislation and what exceptions are provided for.

Please note, that airlines as well as train, bus or boat companies are prohibited from transporting people from South Africa, Botswana, Brazil, India, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, to Germany. Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

It is also necessary to know, here the wearing of the mask is not obligatory in the street. However it is in all enclosed places, stations, transport. Surgical masks are recently no longer authorized. You must therefore obtain FFP2 masks.

Also standards can change quickly, but here there has never been any attestation. You can therefore go out freely, however there are a few rules to follow. Gatherings are not permitted. You should not get together with people other than your home. There is also a curfew: traveling and leaving the home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. are not allowed, unless you are alone for a necessary trip.

Warning

I would also like to advise you to always take knowledge on the official sites of embassies / diplomatic sites (www.diplomatie.gouv.fr), airlines etc ... to know exactly the measures to be carried out before or during a trip.

This article was published on May 3, 2021, things are moving fast so be sure to check it out.