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ME.n Until now, each foreign visitor to Germany has had to go through fourteen days, with the exception of a few exceptions for long-distance drivers and other groups. The heads of state chancelleries and interior ministers agreed on this line a good month ago. Previously, the Robert Koch Institute had stated that the identification of risk countries that had been practiced until then no longer made any sense, since the coronavirus had now spread in a pandemic manner.
Reinhard Bingener
Political correspondent for Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Bremen based in Hannover.
The Upper Administrative Court of Lower Saxony has suspended the quarantine requirement for returnees from all countries. The Lüneburg judges published a decision Monday night in which they agreed with the owner of a holiday home in southern Sweden that he had sued against the quarantine obligation. The decision is likely to have consequences beyond Lower Saxony. “As a rule, such lawsuits shine in all federal states,” a spokesman for the Health Ministry in Hannover said on request. The wording of the individual legal regulations may differ. However, the goal is the same everywhere.
The Lüneburg judges argue that even if a large number of unreported cases are included, foreigners from abroad cannot currently be seen as general suspects. Therefore, a quarantine obligation is excluded. However, the state is free to return to the expansion of risk areas or for health authorities to verify case by case if quarantine is being imposed.
The Lüneburg ruling puts Germany’s governments in a difficult position. According to the Hannover Ministry of Health, entries from abroad are “absolutely relevant” to the infection process in Germany. A return to the designation of risk areas is currently considered unlikely because little has changed in the pandemic situation. However, an individual examination by health authorities is associated with the difficulty that these authorities are already overburdened with monitoring domestic infection chains.
“However, it will not be able to avoid any regulation,” says Hanover regarding entries from abroad. It is currently assumed that instead of a general quarantine, there will soon be a telephone survey. The additional course of action must now be coordinated with the federal government and the other states, so that it remains on a uniform line. The decision will also involve local umbrella organizations, which are aware of the capabilities of the health authorities.
