By Reuters Staff

       1 Min Read

       FILE PHOTO: A view of COVID-19 testing centre at Duesseldorf Airport in Germany, December 21, 2020. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

       BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has declared southern France a coronavirus high-risk area, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said on Friday, which means returning travellers need a negative test or proof of vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 to avoid quarantine.

       The RKI also removed the Netherlands from its high-risk list. Both decisions go into effect on Sunday.

       If tourists or returning German nationals are coming from a high-risk country they must first quarantine, which can be ended with a negative test after five days.

       The new rules for France apply to travellers returning from the regions of Occitanie, Provence-Alpes-C？te d’Azur, Corsica and the overseas territories of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy.

       The RKI also declared Algeria, Morocco, Thailand and Mexico as high-risk areas.

       Reporting by Caroline Copley and Joseph Nasr; Editing by Douglas Busvine

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