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COVID-19 RULES

Germany state Baden-Württemberg set to impose Covid restrictions on unvaccinated

Tougher rules for those who have not been vaccinated could come into force in Baden-Württemberg in south-west Germany, should the number of people in intensive care rise above a certain level, state ministers have proposed.

Published: 29 August 2021 20:32 CEST
Germany state Baden-Württemberg set to impose Covid restrictions on unvaccinated
Visiting restaurants may not be an option for those who haven't had a Covid jab in Baden-Württemberg soon as the state could reintroduce restrictions. picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Schmidt

“If 200 to 250 intensive care beds are occupied, we will consider introducing contact restrictions for unvaccinated adults,” Uwe Lahl, head of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Baden-Württemberg, told German paper Bild am Sonntag.

Such measures would include those already introduced in previous lockdowns, such as only two families being allowed to meet, he said.

And, above 300 intensive care patients, unvaccinated adults – even those with a negative test – could also be banned from visiting restaurants and concerts.

Thomas Strobl, the state’s Minister of the Interior, also felt tougher restrictions were needed for those who hadn’t been vaccinated, the CDU politician told the paper.

“If it hits the intensive care unit, you have to act. It would be wrong to hold everyone jointly liable, including those who have been vaccinated – that is why there will be different rules for those who have not been vaccinated than for those who have.”

In the south-west state, there are currently around 100 patients with Covid-19 being treated in intensive care. According to the state’s health authority, Lahl’s limit of 200 to 250 intensive care patients could be reached in a week, Bild reported.

At the peak of the second and third waves, over 600 patients were treated in intensive care in the state.

Bavarian health minister Klaus Holetschek also supported the suggestions, the paper reported. He said it was right to already be thinking about future measures, such as contact restrictions “to protect the health system”.

These came after Hamburg’s “2G option model” for event organisers and business owners came into force on Saturday, effectively banning unvaccinated people from venues who chose to sign up to the option. 

READ ALSO: 3G to 2G: Hamburg venues can allow entry for Covid-vaccinated and recovered people only 

READ ALSO: Germany’s 16 states bring in uniform Covid-19 rules

According to the latest figures, 60.1 percent of people in Germany are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 with just under 65 percent having had at least one shot.

More than 90 percent of Covid patients in intensive care wards had not received their jabs, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn said Tuesday.

Member comments

    1. Germany is the country that is doing it right. People deserve protection from Covidioten (German term) who think they have a ‘right’ to endanger others.

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COVID-19 RULES

End of the pandemic? What the expiry of Sweden’s Covid laws really means

With the expiry of Sweden's two temporary Covid-19 laws, the downgrading of the virus's threat classification, and the end of the last travel restrictions, April, officially at least, marks the end of the pandemic. We explain what it means.

Published: 1 April 2022 13:07 CEST
End of the pandemic? What the expiry of Sweden's Covid laws really means

What are the two laws which expire on April 1st? 

Sweden’s parliament voted last week to let the two temporary laws put in place to battle the Covid-19 pandemic expire on April 1st.

The first law is the so-called Covid-19 law, or “the law on special restrictions to limit the spread of the Covid-19 illness”, which was used during the pandemic to temporarily empower the authorities to limit the number of visitors to shops, gyms, and sports facilities. It also gave the government power to limit the number of people who could gather in public places like parks and beaches. 

The second law was the “law on temporary restrictions at serving places”. This gave the authorities, among other things, the power to limit opening times, and force bars and restaurants to only serve seated customers.  

What impact will their expiry have? 

The immediate impact on life in Sweden will be close to zero, as the restrictions imposed on the back of these two laws were lifted months ago. But it does means that if the government does end up wanting to bring back these infection control measures, it will have to pass new versions of the laws before doing so. 

How is the classification of Covid-19 changing? 

The government decided at the start of February that it would stop classifying Covid-19 both as a “critical threat to society” and “a disease that’s dangerous to the public” on April 1st.

These classifications empowered the government under the infectious diseases law that existed in Sweden before the pandemic to impose health checks on inbound passengers, place people in quarantine, and ban people from entering certain areas, among other measures. 

What impact will this change have? 

Now Covid-19 is no longer classified as “a disease that’s dangerous to the public”, or an allmänfarlig sjukdom, people who suspect they have caught the virus, are no longer expected to visit a doctor or get tested, and they cannot be ordered to get tested by a court on the recommendation of an infectious diseases doctor. People with the virus can also no longer be required to aid with contact tracing or to go into quarantine. 

Now Covid-19 is no longer classified as “a critical threat to society”, or samhällsfarlig, the government can no longer order health checks at border posts, quarantine, or ban people from certain areas. 

The end of Sweden’s last remaining Covid-19 travel restrictions

Sweden’s last remaining travel restriction, the entry ban for non-EU arrivals, expired on March 31st.  This means that from April 1st, Sweden’s travel rules return to how they were before the Covid-19 pandemic began. 

No one will be required to show a vaccination or test certificate to enter the country, and no one will be barred from entering the country because their home country or departure country is not deemed to have a sufficiently good vaccination program or infection control measures. 

Does that mean the pandemic is over? 

Not as such. Infection rates are actually rising across Europe on the back of yet another version of the omicron variant. 

“There is still a pandemic going on and we all need to make sure that we live with it in a balanced way,” the Public Health Agency’s director-general, Karin Tegmark Wisell, told SVT. 

Her colleague Sara Byfors told TT that this included following the “fundamental recommendation to stay home if you are sick, so you don’t spread Covid-19 or any other diseases”. 

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