Travel warnings do not fit to the figures

According to the German government, there are more and more corona hotspots in the EU for which travel warnings must be issued. But a glance at the RKI statistics reveals a different picture: the risk of infection in other European countries is exaggerated.

According to the latest RKI statistics, the largest number of infections continues to occur in Germany. Their home country is therefore the biggest “risk country” for Germans.

Kosovo and Croatia follow in second and third place. Then comes Turkey. Despite a high number of cases, Berlin still allows holiday trips to certain Turkish regions. “Antalya again at last”, advertises the “SZ”.

Spain, on the other hand, was completely closed for German tourism, with 658 cases recorded. That is much less (almost two thirds) than in Turkey – nevertheless, the Canary Islands have now also been put on the no-go list.

According to the RKI figures, Turkey enjoys preferential treatment compared to Spain. It is a myth that travelling to Spain would be “riskier” than travelling to Turkey.

Cities and regions such as Paris or Brussels are not included in the RKI statistics. Nevertheless, there is a German travel warning there – apparently only because of the so-called incidence, not because of a real risk of infection.

All this shows that risk assessment in Europe is not far off. The most “dangerous” country (Kosovo) is not even an EU member, and in many cases the travel warnings are hardly comprehensible.

Nevertheless, Berlin is adamant – and is now trying to make its own policy the benchmark for the whole EU.

It would make more sense to rethink the German approach. Only areas where many Germans are actually infected should be designated as risk areas.

Then, of course, we would have to warn against travelling to certain German regions. Belgium has Düsseldorf and Hamburg in its sights, and things are not looking so good in Berlin either…

The original post (in German) is here