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ANGELA MERKEL

Germany extends shutdown until March 28th – but loosens some measures

Germany’s federal and state governments have extended the country's shutdown until March 28th - but several relaxations of current measures are planned for next Monday.

Published: 3 March 2021 20:34 CET
Germany extends shutdown until March 28th - but loosens some measures
Merkel and Berlin mayor Michael Müller (SPD) took part in the video conference on Wednesday. Photo: DPA

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany’s 16 states premiers agreed on the extension during their joint video conference, reported Spiegel Online on Wednesday evening. 

Still, several measures are set to be relaxed from Monday March 8th, reported DPA and Spiegel Online, with most individual states likely to set their own varying rules. 

Contact rules

The possibility of private meetings with friends, relatives and acquaintances will be extended again: gatherings involving members of two households with a maximum of five people will be allowed.

Children up to 14 would not be counted, and all couples will be considered as a household.

The resolution also provides for a so-called emergency brake which would see relaxations reversed. If the so-called 7-day incidence of new Covid-19 infections per 100,000 inhabitants rises to more than 100 on three consecutive days, the stricter rules currently still in force will come into effect again from the second following working day. 

READ ALSO: Is Germany set to reopen public life earlier than planned?

In this case private gatherings would be limited to one household being allowed to meet with one other person – as the rule currently stands.

“In all cases, keeping the number of households with which such gatherings occur as constant and small as possible (‘social bubble’) or having all participants self-test prior to the gathering will significantly help reduce the risk of infection,” the state and federal governments said in their final agreement. 

Germany currently has a 7-day incidence of around 64, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The country has been in a shutdown which has largely seen public life come to a halt since the beginning of November. The current lockdown was set to end on March 7th. 

ANALYSIS: Merkel faces mounting pressure to relax Covid-19 shutdown

Store reopenings

Garden centres, flower and book stores can also reopen nationwide from March 8th – but under restrictions.

These include hygienic measures and a limit of one customer per ten square metres (for the first 800 square metres of sales area) and one additional customer for every additional 20 square metres of sales area.

Speedier vaccines

The federal and state governments want to speed up the lagging vaccination campaign. Staff at schools and daycare centres (Kitas) are to be given a vaccine at the vaccination centres with immediate effect, as was decided last week.

From the end of March or at the latest at the beginning of April, GPs and specialists in many health practices should also be able to vaccinate more comprehensively than before, DPA learned from several sources at the meeting. 

Individual states will also be able to decide the order in which they vaccinate, but what exactly this entails is still unclear. 

Up to now, vaccination has been carried out mainly in specially built test centres, because the vaccines have to be stored in a special way. However, this won’t always be necessary, as not all vaccines require special storage.

In addition, AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine is expected to be released soon for all age groups. Until now, the vaccine has only been approved for 18- to 64-year-olds, as Germany’s vaccine commission ruled there was a lack of study data for older people.

Free rapid Covid-19 tests are also set to become available for all by the beginning of April. Originally German Health Minister Spahn had promised them by March 1st, and has been criticised when the plan did not come into effect then.

READ ALSO: How Germany’s states are speeding up AstraZeneca jab rollout

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HEALTH

Could there be a new wave of Covid-19 in Germany this autumn?

It’s back again: amid sinking temperatures, the incidence of Covid-19 has been slowly rising in Germany. But is this enough to merit worrying about the virus?

Published: 20 September 2023 12:05 CEST
Updated: 20 September 2023 22:22 CEST
Could there be a new wave of Covid-19 in Germany this autumn?

More people donning face masks in supermarkets, friends cancelling plans last minute due to getting sick with Covid-19. We might have seen some of those familiar reminders recently that the coronavirus is still around, but could there really be a resurgence of the virus like we experienced during the pandemic years?

According to virologists, the answer seems to be ‘maybe’: since July, the number of people newly infected with Covid-19 has been slowly rising from a very low level.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), nine people per 100,000 inhabitants became newly infected in Germany last week. A year ago, there were only around 270 reported cases.

Various Corona variants are currently on the loose in the country. According to the RKI,  the EG.5 (also called Eris) and XBB.1.16 lines were each detected in the week ending September 3rd with a share of just under 23 percent. 

The highly mutated variant BA.2.86 (Pirola), which is currently under observation by the World Health Organisation (WHO), also arrived in the country this week, according to RKI. 

High number of unreported case

The RKI epidemiologists also warned about a high number of unreported cases since hardly any testing is done. They pointed out that almost half of all registered sewage treatment plants report an increasing viral load in wastewater tests.

The number of hospital admissions has also increased slightly, but are still a far cry from the occupation rate amid the pandemic. Last week it was two per 100,000 inhabitants. In the intensive care units, only 1.2 percent of all beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients.

Still, a good three-quarters (76.4 percent) of people in Germany have been vaccinated at least twice and thus have basic immunity, reported RKI. 

Since Monday, doctors’ offices have been vaccinating with the adapted vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer, available to anyone over 12 years old, with a vaccine for small children set to be released the following week and one for those between 5 and 11 to come out October 2nd.

But Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has so far only recommended that people over 60 and those with pre-existing conditions get vaccinated.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Who should get a Covid jab this autumn in Germany?

“The pandemic is over, the virus remains,” he said. “We cannot predict the course of coming waves of corona, but it is clear that older people and people with pre-existing conditions remain at higher risk of becoming severely ill from Covid-19”

The RKI also recommended that people with a cold voluntarily wear a mask. Anyone exhibiting cough, cold, sore throat or other symptoms of a respiratory illness should voluntarily stay at home for three to five days and take regular corona self-tests. 

However, further measures such as contact restrictions are not necessary, he said.

One of many diseases

As of this autumn, Covid-19 could be one of many respiratory diseases. As with influenza, there are no longer absolute infection figures for coronavirus.

Saarbrücken pharmacist Thorsten Lehr told German broadcaster ZDF that self-protection through vaccinations, wearing a mask and getting tested when symptoms appear are prerequisites for surviving the Covid autumn well. 

Only a new, more aggressive mutation could completely turn the game around, he added.

On April 7th of this year, Germany removed the last of its over two-year long coronavirus restrictions, including mask-wearing in some public places.

READ ALSO: German doctors recommend Covid-19 self-tests amid new variant

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