Mandatory Credit: Photo by RONALD WITTEK/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (10594444h)
German Federal police officers control vehicles at the closed border to France due to the Coronovirus Pandemic in Saarbruecken, Germany, 26 March 2020. The German government and local authorities are heightening measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 which causes the COVID-19 disease.
Police ontrols at the border to France in Saarbruecken, Germany - 26 Mar 2020
Germany’s border checks will continue until at least next Friday, May 15, the Interior ministry said.
Germany is part of the European open-border Schengen area, which imposed emergency border checks to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The group of 26 European countries — including Spain, France, Greece, Germany, Italy and Poland — do not have internal borders and usually allow people to move between them freely.
The ministry said the extension of the border checks is in line with the EU commission.
“Of course, we are guided by the European spirit not to act unilaterally or in an uncoordinated way,” the spokesman added.
