Germany has announced the closure of its borders with other European countries as part of measures to halt the spread of coronavirus.

Germany’s decision goes much further than the EU’s plan to ban travellers from outside the European union, other than the UK, for a 30-day period.

German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer said on Wednesday, 18 March, "Today we are taking a further step to protect the population. We are expanding the restrictions on people travelling into the country to travellers from the European member countries -regardless of whether they travel to Germany via air, rail, water or road," said Herr Scheuer.

Goods traffic and people working in healthcare or critical infrastructure are exempt from the measure. The Mover understands household goods being transported by removals companies will be regarded by the German authorities as goods traffic.

On Monday, Spain also shut its land borders to all foreigners other than permanent residents and trans-border workers. Again, goods should not be affected.

Elsewhere in Europe, governments are taking steps to prevent people from other countries entering their territories. Queues of up to 40km and delays of 15 hours have been reported at some border crossings.

FEDEMAC is providing helpful information on the fast developing border situation, which can be viewed here.