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COVID-19 RULES

KEY POINTS: Germany sets out new Covid isolation rules

German health experts have recommended that states shorten the mandatory Covid isolation period to five days, but have urged people to take a test after this time. Here's the latest.

A Covid test centre in Rostock, northern Germany.
A Covid test centre in Rostock, northern Germany. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bernd Wüstneck

Anyone who gets Covid-19 in Germany in future will still have to complete a mandatory quarantine ordered by the public health department. But the isolation period can be ended after five days.

That’s according to the new isolation and quarantine recommendations from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the German Health Ministry, which were published on Monday. 

“They are an expression of our scientific assessment that coronavirus remains dangerous, but that after infection with an Omicron variant, the incubation periods and the course of the disease are shorter,” said Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach at a press conference in Berlin on Monday. 

He added that the continued obligation for people to isolate – rather than making it voluntarily – was because a Covid infection can trigger a life-threatening illness and is not just a flu or cold.

If someone with Covid is in close contact with another person, “then he de facto endangers their lives”, said Lauterbach.

Currently, in most German states people who receive a positive Covid test result have to isolate themselves for 10 days, with the chance to end it from the seventh day with a negative Covid test. 

The new recommendations come after the government and states thrashed out a plan to shorten the quarantine periods during a meeting last Thursday.

READ ALSO: Germany to shorten mandatory Covid isolation 

They are a “uniform minimum standard to guide the states” the Health Ministry said. 

However, some regions – including Bavaria – have already introduced the shortened Covid isolation period. 

Will people need a test to end the isolation?

No, people will not have to take a test to end the isolation period. But the Health Ministry and the RKI have issued an “urgent recommendation” where they call on people to carry out repeated self-testing starting from day five, and to only leave the isolation when they test negative. 

It is expected that when states amend their legislation, they will say that people need to be symptom-free for 48 hours before they can return to their normal lives. All of the states that have changed their rules so far have opted for this system.  

There are different guidelines for people who work in healthcare, old people’s homes, outpatient care and other similar facilities, according to the RKI and Health Ministry.

They follow the same rules as the general population but additionally, as a prerequisite for returning to their daily life from quarantine, they have to be free from symptoms for 48 hours with a negative test result on day five at the earliest. This test should be carried out at a testing centre or doctor’s surgery. 

Lauterbach reiterated during the press conference on Monday that he recommended everyone take a test after five days at the earliest.

What about contacts?

Vaccinated, recovered and boosted people, have not had to quarantine if they come into close contact with someone with Covid-19.

But now everyone – including the unvaccinated – will be exempt from a mandatory quarantine.

The RKI and the Health Ministry, however, have released an urgent recommendation that all contacts of someone with Covid, for instance after outbreaks in households, school or workplaces, “reduce contacts independently” especially when it comes to risk groups, and carry out daily testing to check on their infection status. 

What happens now?

States will be working to amend their laws so they can enforce the new recommendations. So keep an eye out on your local government in the coming days. 

As we’ve been reporting, some states have already shortened the Covid isolation period.

READ ALSO: The Covid rule changes in May across German states

Bavaria, which relaxed isolation rules in mid-April, said it did not support the recommendation for people to get tested. 

“We see the ‘test-to-release’ issue somewhat differently than the federal Health Minister,” Bavaria’s health minister Klaus Holetschek told the Rheinische Post.

Holetschek pointed out that in order to end isolation in the southern state, the person with Covid must be symptom-free 48 hours beforehand.

If not, the isolation has to continue for 48 hours at a time up to a maximum of 10 days. 

Bavaria also recommends that people continue to wear masks for a period afterwards.

Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse, among others, are following this plan, Holetschek added. 

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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?

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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