Most anti-covid restrictions were lifted across much of Germany today, including the requirement to wear masks in indoor places, more than two years after the coronavirus pandemic began. Although the infection numbers are still very high, the new legal framework adopted by the parliamentary majority of the current governing coalition (Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals) only provides few measures at national level.
These includecontinuous obligation to wear masks on long-distance trains and airplanes. In addition, the majority of Landers maintain the obligation to wear masks in doctors’ offices, clinics, nursing homes, buses and trains. Beyond the new regulation, companies, businesses and other private institutions can continue to decree the use of masks or other measures at their discretion.
The removal of most of the measures of the new infection protection law has been criticized by most of the Länder. However, the government argues that the health system is not overburdened nationwide and that, in an emergency, it is up to states to enact additional restrictions. Only in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Hamburg are broader provisions in force. Both states are the only ones to declare themselves high-risk zones, which allows them to maintain restrictions.
However, according to an INA poll published today in the Sunday newspaper “Bild am Sonntag”, 63% of Germans want to continue wearing a mask voluntarily when shoppingeven after the obligation to wear it is over.
As reported by the Robert Koch Institute (Rki), the seven-day incidence of covid-19 in Germany has dropped again in the past 24 hours to 1,457.9 cases per 100,000 population. The incidence was 1,531.5 the day before, 1,723.8 a week ago, and 1,174.1 cases a month ago.
German health authorities reported 74,053 new infections to Rki, the government’s infectious disease control agency, in the past 24 hours, up from 111,224 a week ago. According to the data, 42 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours, up from 49 a week ago.
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