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After more than nine hours of consultation, a step-by-step opening strategy with a built-in emergency brake was decided.
The lockdown to fight the corona pandemic in Germany will be extended until Palm Sunday on March 28 in view of the continued high number of infections. However, there should be many opening options depending on the infection situation. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the ministers-presidents of state decided on Wednesday in Berlin in more than nine hours of negotiations. A step-by-step opening strategy with a built-in emergency brake was agreed.
The openings are provided from an incidence of 50 or even 100. If individual loosenings lead to a sharp increase in the number of infections in a region, all attenuations that have already been performed are automatically canceled there. Merkel later said they were on the threshold of a new phase of the pandemic. Germany showed strength in its reaction to the second wave. “And now the task of politics is to take the next steps wisely. There must be steps towards openness and, at the same time, steps that must not push us back in the pandemic.”
In Europe there are many examples of a “dramatic third wave”, said the Chancellor. “This danger, we must not fool ourselves, also exists for us.” Merkel emphasized, however: “The spring of 2021 will be different from the spring of a year ago.” Today, there are two important partners in the fight against the pandemic: vaccines and expanded testing options.
Vaccination and tests as additional aids
Merkel (CDU), as well as Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), and Berlin Mayor Michael Müller (SPD), justified the relaxation, despite the simultaneous increase in the number of new infections, saying that now there are two more tools available with vaccination. and tests. It was agreed that at the end of March / beginning of April the GPs and specialized consultations will fully participate in the vaccination campaign. The resolution states, among other things, that everyone can take a free rapid crown test once a week starting March 8. Federal and state governments also expect companies, as a contribution to society as a whole, to offer their assistant employees at least one free quick test per week.
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) warned: “We have defeated the second wave and the third is underway.” The danger and the dimension of the third wave depend on each individual. “So we have to be very careful not to go carelessly into the next big closing. If a lot of people are talking about Easter, then Easter will be a good time or maybe the next closing.” That is why they have now decided on “a triad of caution, trust and responsibility.” A special regulation of contacts for Easter was not decided.
Plan in phases until April 4
Contact restrictions will be relaxed as of March 8. In a first step, florists, bookstores and garden centers will be opened throughout Germany. Thereafter, a step-by-step plan will be implemented until April 4, which foresees 50 or 100 opening steps in various areas, from retail, museums, sports to outdoor catering when the incidence is reached. Retailers should be able to fully reopen on April 5 at the earliest, but with hygiene requirements and personal restrictions.
There may be other restricted openings in regions where the seven-day incidence of just 100 new infections per 100,000 residents is below. In addition to shopping-by-appointment offers at retail, museums, galleries, zoos, botanical gardens, and memorials may be open to visitors by appointment booking. Individual sports alone or in pairs, as well as group sports of up to ten children up to 14 years old in the outdoor area, must also be allowed. With a seven-day stable incidence of less than 50, the requirements are dropped or weakened. So non-contact sport in small groups outdoors should be possible again.
According to the decision, the next opening steps will depend on whether the previous stage has not led to a deterioration of the incidence of seven days for 14 days. Then it comes first to the opening of outdoor catering, cinemas, theaters, opera houses and concerts, as well as indoor non-contact sports and outdoor contact sports. In the next step, there are more sporting and leisure events on the agenda. The following also applies here: Up to an incidence of 100, there should be higher requirements, such as daily testing or mandatory reserve, which are skipped with a seven-day incidence of up to 50 new infections.
(APA / Reuters / dpa))
