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COVID-19 RULES

German doctors call for Covid restrictions on China arrivals

German public health officials want to see EU-wide Covid travel restrictions on people arriving from China due to the uncertain coronavirus situation.

Published: 3 January 2023 10:40 CET
Passengers at Munich airport.
Passengers at Munich airport. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Sven Hoppe

Several EU countries including France, Italy, and Spain – as well as non-EU countries like the UK and USA – have already imposed travel restrictions on arrivals from China, over fears of new Covid-19 variants emerging. 

In the event of a strong Covid surge, as is currently the case in China, it is to be expected that the virus will mutate, warned Johannes Nießen, Chairman of the Federal Association of Public Health Service Doctors.

“We now need a uniform protection concept throughout Europe,” Nießen told newspapers in the Funke-Mediengruppe.

“Every traveller from China should be tested with a rapid (Covid) test when entering the EU.”

The rule should apply to everyone, whether business travellers or tourists, he urged. 

In the case of a positive test result, a PCR test should follow, and the sample must be sequenced, Nießen said, adding that those who have Covid-19 need to isolate.

Throughout the pandemic, Nießen has advised the German government as part of an expert council on Covid-19. 

The European Union has not yet decided on a common line on the Covid wave in China. Last week EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides called on member states to review their national measures for monitoring the virus and to ramp them up again if necessary.

READ ALSO: Is the EU likely to reinstate Covid travel restrictions?

A meeting of the EU Integrated Policy Response Capability is scheduled for Wednesday.

The countries that have announced restrictions have so far focused on rules like compulsory tests and masks. In France, post-arrival PCR tests will also be mandatory in the future.

The German government said on Sunday it plans to wait and see for the time being. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) said that a tightening of entry rules in Germany was “not yet necessary.”

But there’s been opposition. The Left Party, for instance, slammed this line and demanded mandatory PCR testing for travellers from China at German airports.

“The news that almost every second passenger from China tested positive for corona at Milan airport is alarming,” said Kathrin Vogler, health policy spokesperson for the Left Party in the Bundestag.

“In order to find out whether travellers from China might be bringing a previously unknown virus variant with them, compulsory PCR testing with sequencing makes sense.”

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COVID-19 RULES

Germany to repeal last protective measures against Covid-19

Three years after Germany introduced a series of protective measures against the coronavirus, the last are set to be repealed on Friday.

Published: 6 April 2023 10:42 CEST
Germany to repeal last protective measures against Covid-19

The remaining restrictions – or the requirement to wear a mask in surgeries, clinics and nursing homes – are falling away a couple of days after German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) made an announcement that the Covid-19 pandemic is “over.”

“We have successfully managed the pandemic in Germany,” said Lauterbach at a press conference on Wednesday.

In light of low infection numbers and virus variants deemed to be less dangerous, Germany has been steadily peeling away the last of its longstanding measures. 

READ ALSO: Germany monitoring new Covid variant closely, says Health Minister

The obligation to wear a mask on public transport was lifted on February 2nd. 

During the height of the pandemic between 2020 and 2021, Germany introduced its strictest measures, which saw the closure of public institutions including schools and daycare centres (Kitas).

“The strategy of coping with the crisis had been successful overall,” said Lauterbach, while also admitting: “I don’t believe that the long school closures were entirely necessary.”

Since the first coronavirus cases in Germany were detected in January 2020, there have been over 38 million reported cases of the virus, and 171,272 people who died from or with the virus, according to the Robert Koch Institute. 

Voluntary measures

In surgeries and clinics, mask rules can remain in place on a voluntary basis – which some facilities said they would consider based on their individual situations. 

“Of course, practices can stipulate a further obligation to wear masks as part of their house rules, and likewise everyone can continue to wear a mask voluntarily,” the head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), Andreas Gassen, told DPA.

But Gassen said it was good there would no longer be an “automatic obligation”, and that individuals could take the responsibility of protecting themselves and others into their own hands. 

READ ALSO: Is the pandemic over in Germany?

“Hospitals are used to establishing hygiene measures to protect their patients, even independently of the coronavirus,” the head of the German Hospital Association (DKG), Gerald Gaß, told DPA.

With the end of the last statutory Covid measures, he said, we are entering “a new phase” in dealing with this illness. 

“Hospitals will then decide individually according to the respective situation which measures they will take,” he said, for example based on the ages and illnesses of the patients being treated.

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