Berlin

The German government on Friday declared travellers entering the country will need to take a coronavirus test unless they have been fully vaccinated or have recently recovered from the virus.

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Germany recorded 2,454 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours as several local authorities in various regions called for tougher rules to be implemented.

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The country has witnessed a surge in virus cases due to the Delta variant as German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed concern over "exponential growth" in coronavirus infections as the incidence rate rose to 13.2 in new cases.

The country's Robert Koch public health institute had put Spain and the Netherlands on a list of high incidence countries for coronavirus as Europe continues to battle with the virus.

The move requires travellers returning from those to countries to quarantine for ten days which can be cut down to five days after a person produces a negative COVID-19 test.

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Spain's Catalonia region has become the epicentre of the virus with incidence rate of 1,145 cases per 100,000 people as authorities reimposed a night curfew to try to curb the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, French minister Minister Clement Beaune said the Johnson government's decision to quarantine British travellers coming from France was "excessive" and "incomprehensible on health grounds".

The European Union had declared last week that 200 million citizens which is half the population in the continent were fully vaccinated 

The UK government had decided to keep quarantine rules due to the Beta variant prevalent in France even as authorities said the bulk of cases have been traced to La Reunion island in the Indian Ocean.

(With inputs from Agencies)