Germany poised to lift travel warning for European countries

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Germany is preparing to lift travel warnings to European nations, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Tuesday, as the continent looks to further ease restrictions put in place to halt transmission of the coronavirus.

“We are preparing a resolution for the cabinet tomorrow, which is currently still being voted on within the government,” Maas told a press conference.

The German government was aiming to “replace the travel warning with travel advice that is very much focused on the situation in the individual countries,” he said.

Germany introduced a blanket warning against foreign travel in mid-March as part of measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

But with new infections sharply down, the government has signaled that it aimed to lift the warning for EU countries as well as other European nations like Switzerland, Iceland and Norway from June 15.

Europe’s biggest economy brought home 240,000 stranded tourists in the first weeks of the pandemic as countries imposed travel restrictions and slammed their borders shut.

The European Union set out plans in May for a phased restart of travel this summer, with EU border controls eventually lifted and measures to minimize the risks of infection, like wearing face masks on shared transport. NVG

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