Germany to drop quarantine, negative COVID-19 demand for UK arrivals

FILE PHOTO: Federal police officers check an air passenger arriving from Britain at the Frankfurt Airport, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Frankfurt, Germany, January 30, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

LONDON (Reuters) - Germany will on Jan. 4 drop its demand for travellers from Britain to quarantine and provide a negative COVID-19 test, requirements that were imposed earlier in December during a surge of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The German embassy in London said on Twitter that the requirements would be dropped from midnight CET on Jan. 4, meaning that people who are fully vaccinated or have an important reason to travel will be allowed to enter Germany.

Britain's transport minister Grant Shapps said on Twitter that the news was a "welcome development". Germany had classified the United Kingdom as an area of variants of concern.

Britain is experiencing another wave of the coronavirus pandemic driven by Omicron, with a record 183,037 daily cases reported on Wednesday. Infections rose steeply in Germany through October and November, but they have eased off in December.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Grant McCool)