On Tuesday, the federal and state governments will join forces again to discuss tightening the corona measures. The conversation is apparently a stricter mask requirement – as well as a night curfew.
Many people have been restricting their lives for months – however, a resounding success in the fight against the coronavirus has not yet been achieved. Against this background, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prime Ministers of the federal states will meet again on Tuesday to discuss how to proceed. Now what trickles through is what the participants are considering.
As the business magazine “Business Insider” and the “Tagesspiegel” report, citing government circles, the Chancellery wants to introduce a nationwide uniform night curfew, as it already exists in France and other neighboring countries. The federal states have generally signaled their approval – it is still open from when to when it will apply and whether it should only come into force from a certain incidence.
Stricter mask requirement when shopping
Also under discussion is the introduction of an FFP2 mask requirement for shopping and in local public transport. Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier considers a federal-state resolution to introduce FFP2 protective masks in local public transport too conceivable. The federal government and prime minister would first speak to experts about the risk of virus mutations on Monday, says the CDU vice-president ARDBroadcast “Anne Will”. Then the states and the federal government would discuss among themselves. In the end, the federal states are responsible for implementing feasible measures.
According to the “Business Insider”, there should also be a kind of “home office duty light” for companies and administrations. Accordingly, where possible, employees should be able to work from home.
In the meantime, a reduction in bus and rail traffic, which has been discussed in the meantime, is off the table. According to the report, schools and daycare centers are to remain largely closed.
Söder is considering border controls
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder does not rule out renewed border controls. “The best thing would be a uniform European strategy to combat corona,” said the CSU chairman of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. “If this does not continue, border controls would make sense.” That already helped effectively in the spring. “It doesn’t take forever. If there is more vaccine, the situation can improve quickly.”
Cabinet members Olaf Scholz and Peter Altmaier also spoke out in favor of stricter requirements. “What we can least afford economically is the intensification of the pandemic,” said Minister of Economic Affairs Altmaier of the “Rheinische Post”. He warned of the spread of mutated forms of the coronavirus. Finance Minister Scholz told “Bild” that he was expecting the lockdown to be extended by two weeks.
Seven day incidence is going down
Despite months of restrictions, the corona numbers in Germany are still quite high – but are at least significantly below those in the run-up to Christmas. However, experts warn of new dangers from the very infectious virus variants that first appeared in Great Britain and South Africa and have now also arrived in Germany.
After the holidays with fewer tests, the values are now considered meaningful again. It is currently positive that the so-called seven-day incidence is falling: from 166.6 on January 10 to 136 today, as data from the Robert Koch Institute show. How long this decline will last is unclear. The high of 197.6 was reached on December 22nd, after which the number fluctuated. In addition, the differences between the federal states remain large.
