The German authorities have announced that from Sunday they will include Catalonia in their list of risk areas for coronavirus, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the government agency responsible for controlling infectious diseases.
As well as Catalonia, they indicated that Cyprus, the Norwegian counties of Agder and Rogaland, and the Spanish region of Cantabria will also be included in these "basic risk areas", so it is not advisable to travel there. In Spain, Andalusia, Navarra, the Basque Country, La Rioja and Ceuta have already held this status for weeks.
At the other end of the spectrum, the German authorities have announced that Qatar, the Croatian county of Mejumurje, the French department of Guadeloupe and the Dutch overseas territory of Aruba have been excluded from the list, so that on Sunday they will no longer be considered "basic risk areas".
The weekly update of the German government's list of risk areas has few practical effects for travellers arriving in the country from these areas: they will have to present a negative test result, or the EU's digital Covid certificate proving their vaccination. However, inclusion on the list does indicate that the German government advises against travelling to these areas.
Germany classifies Covid risk areas as zones where there is a seven-day cumulative incidence of more than 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
"Basic risk area" is the category of least concern in the German government lists, which has two types of higher classification - zones of special risk due to high incidence, and zones of special risk due to a dangerous variant. The lists are prepared by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), in collaboration with the ministries of foreign affairs, interior and health.
According to all forecasts, Covid indicators in Catalonia are on the rise. In the last few hours, 5,304 new infections have been registered and the outbreak risk has increased from 199 to 282. The Rt or transmission rate of the disease has also increased, from 1.54 to 1.71, while the average age of those infected continues to fall. Among the trends there is, however, one that remains positive: the situation in Catalan hospitals is under control. Despite the fact that day-after-day infections are rising, hospital pressure remains stable with 475 Covid patients admitted, only two more than yesterday. In Intensive Care Units, four patients have been discharged in the last few hours.
The data is good in Germany
In Germany itself, the seven day cumulative incidence fell this Friday to 5.0 cases per 100,000 population, a rate that has not been recorded since last August. According to the RKI, in the previous 24 hours 649 new cases were confirmed across the country, and 69 deaths with or from Covid. Germany thus has registered 3,729,682 infected and 91,007 dead since the pandemic began.