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Germany to offer compulsory but free coronavirus tests to travellers

Germany to offer compulsory but free coronavirus tests to travellers

Germany to offer compulsory but free coronavirus tests to travellers

After opening its borders for tourists, Germany is now planning to ask the travellers to go through compulsorycoronavirus testing before entering the country.

Germany has been more successful than the rest of the Europe in containing the wide spread of the novel coronavirus. The country was in a strict lockdown for almost two months and has successfully reopened its economy.

However, to make sure that the residents continue to stay safe while trying to bring economy back to its old structure, German government says it wants to do everything possible to contain the spread of the virus.

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"We are also checking whether it is legally possible to oblige someone to do a test, because it would be an encroachment on freedom," Health Minister Jens Spahn told a local radio channel.

Spahn and his counterparts from the 16 federal states of Germany have also announced that these compulsory coronavirus tests will be free of coston a voluntary basis.

If tested negative, the travellers will not be asked to quarantine themselves for 14 days. However, the people who test positive will have to be quarantined for atleast 14 days.

The local government claimed that they want to protect their citizens and the travellers, while making sure that their basic human rights are not violated.

The number of new confirmed cases increased sharply on Friday to 815, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed, the biggest tally since mid-May. It remained high on Saturday with 781 new cases.