Covid-19: Germany is putting the Britain back on a list of risk areas

Germany is putting the Britain back on a list of risk areas because of the emergence there of cases of a coronavirus variant first detected in India.

Britain currently has a lower rate of coronavirus infections than Germany.

But Germany's disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, says the United Kingdom is going back on the list effective Sunday because of the at least limited appearance of the variant known as B.1.617.2.

The institute says Spain's Canary Islands, a popular tourist destination, and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in North Africa were being removed from the list of risk areas, the lowest of three levels of risk classification.

Under new rules this week, fully vaccinated people don't need a test to enter Germany or to go into quarantine -- unless they're coming from somewhere designated as a virus variant area such as India or Brazil.

Others coming from a risk area can avoid a mandatory 10-day quarantine by showing a negative test result.