The parliament building in Berlin, Germany Shutterstock

The parliament building in Berlin, Germany Shutterstock

Since 14 July, Germany has asked that travellers from Luxembourg wishing to visit Germany obtain a negative covid-19 test, no older than 48 hours before entering the country. Visitors who fail to do so must quarantine.

In a letter sent on Thursday to his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, Jean Asselborn (LSAP) asked for the measure to relaxed as soon as possible.

Luxembourg experienced a peak in new infections in July, a phenomenon it credits to a large-scale, free and voluntary, testing scheme which has detected a number of asymptomatic carriers of the virus. This, along with manual contract tracing, it says has boosted the number of reported infections.

Supporting his latest appeal, Asselborn highlighted the current infection rate of 47.44 cases per 100,000 inhabitants from 3-9 August. The figure is below the threshold of 50 per 100,000 inhabitants which was reported in the Moselle region.

“According to the criteria laid down by the German authorities, there is no longer any basis for classifying Luxembourg as a risk zone,” the minister pointed out.

German authorities also consider the Belgian province of Antwerp, certain districts in Bulgaria and Romania, as well as autonomous communities in Spain, to be “high risk” areas.

Currently, the UK and Switzerland is imposing quarantine on visitors from Luxembourg residents. Luxembourg is, meanwhile, among 44 countries on Poland’s flight ban list, effective until 25 August.