Traffic jam at closed Czech-German border

Long-lines of trucks and other vehicles formed Monday on two major highways leading from the Czech Republic to Germany due to tight border controls on the German side.

Germany on Sunday implemented the controls on its frontiers with the Czech Republic and Austria's Tyrol province in an effort to stem the spread of more contagious coronavirus variants.

The new restrictions that took effect on Sunday limit entry from those areas to German citizens and residents, truck drivers, transport and health service workers and a few others, who have to register online and show a negative coronavirus test and get quarantined for at least 10 days on arrival.

No one else is allowed to enter Germany.

The queue reached some 23 kilometers (14 miles) on the D8 highway to the German state of Saxony while the line on the D5 highway to the state of Bavaria was about 15 kilometers (9 miles) long.

Three Czech counties on the border with Germany and Poland are a complete lockdown after a surge of a highly contagious coronavirus variant originally found in Britain.