PA musician plays cello in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, capital of Germany, May 26, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)
Effective Oct. 1, Germany has lifted a general travel warning for non-European Union (EU) countries and replaced it with differentiated travel and safety instructions as well as travel warnings, the country's Foreign Office said on Thursday.
A travel warning was not a travel ban but an "urgent appeal" not to undertake unnecessary journeys, according to the office.
A worldwide general travel warning due to the COVID-19 pandemic was issued by Germany in March. By June, this general warning had been lifted for most European countries.
On Wednesday, the entire territory of Belgium and almost all of France were listed as risk areas due to increasing COVID-19 infection numbers, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the public health institute in Germany.
Since the beginning of August, COVID-19 tests have been mandatory for travelers entering Germany from risk areas, according to the country's Ministry of Health (BMG).
The number of new COVID-19 infections has been increasing in Germany since the end of July. Daily cases went up by 2,503 in the past 24 hours to 291,722 on Thursday, according to the RKI.