In a move that has sparked widespread criticism from the European Union, Germany on Sunday announced that it has partially closed its borders with the Czech Republic and Austria’s Tyrol over a troubling surge in coronavirus mutations.
A thousand police officers were mobilized to ensure strict border checks, a reminder of the much-criticized early days of the pandemic when EU countries hastily closed their frontiers to each other.
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At the Kiefersfelden crossing in southern Bavaria, masked officers in yellow high-visibility jackets were out in sub-zero temperatures, stopping each vehicle coming from Austria.
Under the new rules, only Germans or non-German residents are allowed through.
Exceptions are made for essential workers in sectors such as health and transport, as well as for urgent humanitarian reasons, the German interior ministry has said. Everyone must be able to provide a recent negative coronavirus test.
Among those turned back was Austrian driver Irene, who said she would now have to make an hour-long detour.
‘I only wanted to drive through Germany to go to Vienna,’ she told newsmen. ‘This is a catastrophe, I have a dog in the car who is 15 years old… I don’t know the way and I don’t have GPS.’
The restrictions are aimed at slowing the spread of more contagious variants that first emerged in Britain and South Africa, and have created new virus hotspots along the Czech border and in Austria’s Tyrol region.
At the German-Czech border crossing in Bad Gottleuba, a police spokesman said the checks had caused waiting times of around one hour. Traffic is expected to be heavier from Monday, he added.
By Sunday afternoon, German police had checked more than 1,700 vehicles and denied entry to more than 500.
The European Commission, eager to avoid a return to go-it-alone pandemic responses, has condemned Germany’s border restrictions.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
