Berlin Neighboring countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria are showing the way, now Germany is gradually withdrawing the corona measures. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the Prime Ministers agreed at their video conference on Wednesday that all “profound protective measures” should be lifted from March 20th. Before that, the existing measures will be gradually lifted.
“We are confident about the pandemic,” said Scholz after the talks in Berlin. The situation will continue to improve in the coming weeks. The hospitals were used comparatively little, to which the current measures had contributed. These could now be withdrawn “piece by piece”.
“After the two-year pandemic, we deserved that things should get better again,” said Scholz. The nationwide seven-day incidence fell on Wednesday for the fourth day in a row.
As a first step, there should no longer be any restrictions on private meetings – unless unvaccinated people also take part. Then, until March 19, the regulation will remain that in addition to people from your own household, a maximum of two people from another household may be present.
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According to the decision, shopping should again be “possible nationwide for everyone without controls”. However, the mask requirement in retail remains in place.
Those who have not been vaccinated will soon be able to return to restaurants and hotels with a negative test
From March 4th, the 3G rule should apply again to restaurant and hotel visits, and unvaccinated people with a negative test should also have access again. Discotheques and clubs “are open to those who have recovered and those who have been vaccinated with a daily test or with a third vaccination (2G plus).”
The 2G or 2G-plus rule should continue to apply to major national events. Up to 60 percent of the maximum capacity and a maximum of 6000 people should be allowed to take part in indoor events. Outdoors it is 75 percent of maximum capacity and a maximum of 25,000 people.
In the future, more spectators will be able to go to the stadiums again.
(Photo: dpa)
However, the heads of government are making the opening step at the beginning of March dependent on the “situation in the hospitals”. Exactly what that means is not explained in detail. In an earlier draft of the decision paper, the hospitalization rate was mentioned as a criterion. It shows how many people with Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants were admitted to the hospital within seven days.
On March 20, further measures such as the home office regulation are to fall. However, this step also depends on the situation in the hospitals. Scholz and the country heads want to enable basic measures such as the obligation to wear masks, keeping your distance and hygiene rules beyond this date, so that they can also be used in schools and daycare centers, for example.
The Bundestag should create the legal basis for this, because the measures regulated by the Infection Protection Act expire on March 19th. A Bundestag session is already planned for this at the beginning of March. If there is a local corona outbreak in individual counties, districts or urban districts and the health system there is threatened to be overloaded, the federal states should also be able to impose additional protective measures.
“We have to combine openings and mindfulness,” said North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), who is currently chairman of the Prime Ministers’ Conference.
Health ministers are asked to ensure systematic data collection of indicators relevant to the burden of the pandemic. In the past there had been criticism that, for example, no reliable data on new infections or the occupancy of the intensive care units was provided over the weekends.
In addition, the federal government wants to adjust the classification of high-risk areas to take account of the increased incidence worldwide. This should also make traveling easier for families with children under the age of twelve, who are often not vaccinated and cannot escape quarantine when they return.
In a draft of the paper, it was still said that the current regulation for high-risk areas restricts “the great good of freedom of travel, as well as trade and business disproportionately”.
New vaccination draft
Chancellor Scholz emphasized that the pandemic was not over yet. That is why the heads of government from the federal and state governments continue to consider a general obligation to vaccinate to be necessary. “The spade helps,” emphasized Scholz. The Bundestag is scheduled to discuss the issue in March. Since Wednesday, the draft law for the introduction of compulsory vaccination from the age of 50 has been the third position formulated by a group of parliamentarians.
According to the plans of the parliamentarians around the FDP politician Andrew Ullmann, all people over the age of 18 who have not yet been vaccinated or have recovered should first be given mandatory advice. Then a vaccination for people over 50 years of age should be introduced – but only “subject to an assessment of the situation in autumn 2022”.
In addition to the proposal by the group around Ullmann, there is a draft for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18 and an application against compulsory vaccination from the ranks of the traffic light groups. The Union faction had also submitted its own application, which initially only provides for the creation of a vaccination register and then – depending on the pandemic situation – a graduated vaccination requirement according to age and professional groups.
The heads of government from the federal and state governments have also made it clear that in future it will no longer be the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) that will decide how long a vaccinated or recovered status will apply, but the federal government.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had pushed for this regulation after the RKI had reduced the convalescent status from six to three months in mid-January, surprising the federal government.
More: Lauterbach sees the peak of the omicron wave reached – “moderate loosening” possible