COVID-19 lockdown: After Denmark, Germany, Austria announce reopening of land borders
Travellers drive past French gendarmes as they cross the French-Italian border near Menton
As Europe continues to ease the lockdown, Germany's foreign minister Heiko Maas said the country will lift the blanket travel warning from June 15.
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"We have decided today that the travel warning for the named circle of countries will not be continued but replaced by travel advice," German foreign minister Henko Maas asserted.
Germany had ordered a lockdown in mid-March as the coronavirus cases began to increase in the country. On Wednesday the country reported 342 new coronavirus cases.
Meanwhile, Austria followed Germany to announce that entry checks at its land borders due coronavirus pandemic would be scrapped from Thursday.
"As of tomorrow there will be no more checks in order to enter Austria," Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said.
However, Mass said that "this decision raises great hope and expectations but I want to say again - travel warnings are not travel bans, and travel advice is not an invitation to travel."
Last week, Denmark had said it was reopening its land border to visitors from Germany, Norway and Iceland from June 15 as the pandemic began showing signs of decline.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said: "On the other side of summer we are expecting an opening for the other Schengen countries and the UK."
However, the country retained the ban on overnight stay for tourists in Copenhagen with Justice Minister Nick Haekkerup declaring "the ban on stays for tourists in Copenhagen is about keeping the intensity."
"We must avoid a super spread," Haekkerup asserted.