GERMANY is the latest country to ban travel to and from the UK from this weekend over Omicron variant fears.
The new rule is being brought in to slow the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant that is causing record numbers of cases, Germany’s government said.
From midnight on Sunday, or 11pm UK time, any travellers from the UK apart from German nationals, residents and transit passengers will be banned.
Everyone entering Germany from Britain, whether vaccinated or not, will need a negative PCR test and is required to be quarantined for 14 days.
The country’s public health authority, the Robert-Koch-Institut, announced the new rules this evening and said the restrictions could last until January 3.
Other countries in Germany’s highest risk category include South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
The announcement comes as the UK has recorded more than 90,000 coronavirus cases for the second day running.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been telling Brits to get their booster jabs as soon as they can, after long snaking queues were seen at vaccine centres across the country.
Trending In The News is also urging readers to sign up to the Jabs Army campaign to make the rollout as smooth and fast as possible.
A major incident was declared in London where mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “incredibly concerned” by infection levels.
He said public services will work together so the jabs programme can continue — with fire crews allowed to drive ambulances under the plan.
Another 90,418 Brits have tested positive in the last 24 hours while yesterday 93,045 infections were reported.
It means a whopping 11,279,428 cases have been reported overall in the UK since the pandemic began.
Latest statistics also show another 125 deaths have occurred as a result of the killer bug.
It comes as daily Omicron cases have TREBLED in the last 24 hours with cases rising by more than 10,000.
Yesterday just 3,201 cases were reported compared to the whopping 10,059 revealed today.
It takes the total number of cases of the new COVID variant to 24,968.
It comes after France announced similar measures, banning non essential travel to and from the UK.
From midnight on Saturday (11pm Friday UK time) there will be a “requirement to have an essential reason to travel to, or come from, the UK, both for the unvaccinated and vaccinated”.
French citizens and EU nationals can still return to France from the UK, and passengers will be able to transit through France for less than 24 hours.
Paris has cancelled their traditional New Year’s fireworks, and the concerts and DJ appearances planned on the Champs-Elysées will no longer take place.
The Netherlands also announced that they will be going into a tough lockdown until mid-January.
