The German government is discussing reducing to almost zero the number of flights into Germany in a bid to prevent more virulent mutant variants of the coronavirus finding a foothold in Germany, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Bild newspaper.
Other measures being considered included closures of borders to regions where mutant strains were more prevalent, he added.
The newspaper said Chancellor Angela Merkel had asked Seehofer at the weekend to examine ways of reducing the rate at which the mutants arrived in the country.
“The risk posed by these virus mutations demands of us that we consider even drastic measures,” Seehofer told Bild. “They include stricter border controls, especially at frontiers with high-risk regions, but also a reduction of air traffic to Germany to almost zero, as Israel is currently doing.”
