The new wave of covid and the emergence of the Omicron variant are having their effects felt on Europe and countries are taking new health measures. To help you find your way around, we take a look beyond Luxembourg's borders.
In France
What is closed: nightclubs and dance floors in bars and restaurants, from 10 December to 6 January 2022 inclusive.
Places requiring : - Places of leisure and culture (entertainment and concert halls, amusement parks, festivals, sports halls, gaming rooms, libraries, cinemas); - bars and restaurants (except for collective catering and take-away, professional road/rail catering, room service and free distribution of meals); - trade fairs, exhibitions and seminars; - health, social and medico-social services and establishments, for people in care (except for emergencies, in which case the health pass is no longer compulsory) and their accompanying persons or visitors; - long-distance travel by interregional public transport; - large shops and shopping centres of more than 20,000 m², by decision of the departmental prefect, when their characteristics and the seriousness of the risks of contamination justify it; - ski lifts and Christmas markets (unless otherwise decided by the prefect); - campsites or holiday clubs; - The prefects have the possibility of making a health pass compulsory in certain places where people gather, such as markets.
How to get a valid health pass?
The French health pass remains in 3G mode (tested, vaccinated, recovered). It applies from the age of 12 years and two months. For it to be considered valid, you must present:
- Either a negative test less than 24 hours old. This can be a PCR, an antigenic or a self-test carried out under the supervision of a health professional;
- A positive test result showing recovery from covid, at least 11 days old and less than 6 months old;
- A complete vaccination certificate. This is seven days after the second injection for two-dose vaccines or for people who have already had covid and 28 days after the injection for vaccines that require only one dose. And seven days after the booster dose. This becomes compulsory for all people over 18 years from 15 January 2022, seven months after their last injection or infection. The rule applies to those over 65 and those vaccinated with Janssen from 15 December. A medical certificate stating that there is a medical reason not to be vaccinated can be presented instead of the three documents mentioned above.
Entry measures:
A complete vaccination schedule is sufficient for entry for persons coming from a European Union member state. Otherwise, a negative PCR or antigen test is required. There is an exception for border residents, within a 30-kilometre radius of their home, confirms the French covid hotline.
Other rules:
France recommends two to three days of teleworking per week where possible, postponing greetings and departure ceremonies and limiting festive gatherings to the private sphere.
Mask-wearing is compulsory in all establishments open to the public and in enclosed areas, including those subject to the health pass, the government states. Prefects can also decide to make it compulsory in the streets, as the Moselle prefect recently did in municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants.
In Belgium
What is closed: as in France, “nightclubs and dance halls” are closed. Bars and restaurants close at 11pm and tables are limited to six people.
Places where covid safe ticket applies: - Cafés and restaurants; - fitness centres; - indoor events for 50 people or more and outdoor events for 100 people or more; - activities organised by a club or association can only take place outdoors.
And this, from the age of 16, the helpline explains. The obligation applies to over 12’s for visitors in hospitals.
Other measures exist per region. In Flanders, for example, it may be required in some residential homes. Indoor playgrounds are closed, state the authorities.
The Brussels region adds that it is required in theatres, concert halls, cultural centres, cinemas, museums, amusement or theme parks and that indoor playgrounds are closed. The same places in the “cultural, festive and recreational” sector require a covid safe ticket in Wallonia, from 50 people indoors and 200 people outdoors.
How to get a valid covid safe ticket? - Either by being fully vaccinated. In Belgium, this is the case after having received the last dose of the vaccine, either the second one for most people, or the only one for Janssen. “Vaccination certificates remain valid for 365 days from the date of the injection. It is still to be determined what will happen at the end of their validity period,” says the site dedicated to questions about the covid safe ticket;
- Either by having tested negative within two days following a PCR test or within 24 hours for a rapid antigenic test, carried out by a health professional (self-tests are not valid);
- Or by having recovered from the virus more than 11 days ago and less than 180 (certificate of recovery).
Measures input:
A person not living in Belgium and planning a stay of 48 hours must always fill in the passenger location form (PLF). This is also always the case, regardless of the duration of the stay, for arrivals by plane or boat or train from a country outside the European Union or the Schengen area.
No test or vaccine is needed for people coming from a green or orange zone of the European Union, even for arrivals by plane, the covid information line confirms to Paperjam. But from a --which is the case for Luxembourg and several German and French regions--there are several options. Vaccination or recovery certificates are sufficient on their own. Otherwise, you will have to show the result of a negative PCR test, less than 72 hours old or a rapid antigen test from the day before or the day of arrival. But also to be tested on the 7th day after arrival. People who do not have a test on arrival should quarantine themselves until their first test on the first or second day after arrival. And always do a second test on the 7th day. Additional testing measures apply to those vaccinated, and quarantine to those tested even if negative, from red zones outside the EU or Schengen area. The measures are specified .
Other rules:
Indoor gatherings are limited to 200 people. The government also writes that teleworking, when possible, is “compulsory” four days a week.
In Germany
What's closed: Nightclubs must close in Germany in areas where the incidence rate reaches 350 infections per 100,000 inhabitants. A
Locations under 2G:
Germany has almost confined the non-vaccinated, switching to a 2G system (vaccinated or recovered): - non-essential shops; - cultural venues; - recreation venues.
The 16 Länder can add restrictions. At the border, in Rhineland-Palatinate, non-essential shops (which excludes supermarkets, bookshops, garden centres, opticians and petrol stations) are under 2G, in addition to events in closed rooms, hairdressing and beauty salons, restaurants and cafés, hotels, coach and boat trips, indoor recreational sports, indoor swimming pools and thermal baths, cinemas, theatres, concert halls, other indoor recreational areas, amusement arcades and casinos, zoos and museums, . Outdoor events, such as the Christmas market, also require 2G. Places where masks cannot be worn all the time--for example, restaurants--are even under 2G+, i.e. a test is required. People who have received their booster dose are exempt, as are children up to 12 years and three months. For children up to 17 years, 3G applies everywhere.
Places under 3G:
In Rhineland-Palatinate, children under the age of 17 are allowed in places under 2G. The workplace and religious services are under 3G.
How to be valid under 2G or 3G?
Germany defines fully vaccinated persons as those who have received the last dose required for their vaccine within the last 14 days.
According to the website of , the country recognises a positive PCR test result older than 28 days and less than six months as proof of recovery. Negative tests accepted are PCR tests less than 72 hours old or rapid antigenic tests less than 48 hours old for travel purposes.
Other rules:
Private gatherings of unvaccinated or recovered persons are limited to one's own household and no more than two persons from another household.
Public gatherings and the purchase of fireworks are prohibited on New Year's Day.
The number of participants in large events is limited to 30-50% of capacity, 5,000 people indoors and 15,000 outdoors.
Entry measures : People coming from areas considered at risk must register online and isolate themselves for 10 days upon arrival. They can be released from quarantine earlier if they provide proof of vaccination or recovery at the same site, or a negative test after the 5th day of quarantine. This must have been done more than 48 hours after entry into Germany. Luxembourg and France are not on the as of 10 December. Belgium however is on the list.
On the other hand, entry into the country is . For non-vaccinated people, entry is only possible in certain (family reunion, marriage, return to the usual residence). When contacted about the conditions of entry in these cases and about the situation of recovered persons, the German covid hotline did not respond.
In Luxembourg:
Luxembourg is soon to vote on new health restrictions to switch several leisure activities from 3G to 2G. Businesses will switch to mandatory 3G from 15 January. Read more about the measures in the grand duchy
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.