Diseases - Symptoms

Federal emergency brake: limited exit from 10 p.m.

There are some changes to the planned federal emergency brake. Walks should be allowed until midnight. Adjustments are also being made in retail and schools. The regulation should take effect soon

Even after the so-called federal emergency brake against the third corona wave comes into force, people in Germany should be allowed to leave the house in the evening. After 10 p.m. it should be over - apart from a few exceptions. The parliamentary groups of the Union and SPD want to change the federal government's draft law accordingly. Exit restrictions should now be from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. - an hour later than initially planned. Jogging and walks should be allowed until midnight, but only on your own. The emergency brake could come into force in a few days.

From an incidence of 100, the same rules nationwide

The aim of the change in the law is to regulate restrictions on public life nationwide: If the so-called seven-day incidence - i.e. the number of new infections within one week per 100,000 inhabitants - in a city or a district is over 100 for three consecutive days, the same rules should apply in each case. After the rounds between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the heads of government, the states had in some cases put different measures into force.

The Bundestag wants to pass the new regulation this Wednesday. Accordingly, shopkeepers are only allowed to receive customers with an incidence of more than 100 if they present a negative corona test and have booked an appointment. If the value rises above 150, only the collection of ordered goods (Click & Collect) would be allowed. These restrictions still do not apply to food retailers, pharmacies and drug stores.

Further sport in groups for children up to 14

Distance learning would be compulsory for schools with a seven-day incidence of 165 or more. In the original draft, a threshold of 200 new infections was specified. For many experts that was too high. For children up to the age of 14, contactless sports should continue to be possible in groups outdoors. The outdoor areas of zoos and botanical gardens should remain open to visitors with a current negative test.

Employers must provide two corona tests per week. If the employer offers home office, the employees should be obliged, according to information from parliamentary groups, to accept this offer. All regulations are initially limited to June 30th. After the Bundestag, it would be the turn of the Bundesrat, the Chamber of States, on Thursday. The emergency brake should then be put into practice as quickly as possible. So far, however, there is no specific date.

Appeal to countries to implement rules as soon as possible

Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) named the areas of business, daycare centers and schools as well as "above all the area of private contacts" as decisive. He called on the countries to introduce restrictions beforehand. "Nobody has to wait for this law," he said. «It's an emergency brake. Ideally, the brakes were already applied beforehand. " Some countries have already started doing this.

The legal policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, Jan-Marco Luczak (CDU), said: "The federal government is authorized to issue an ordinance that gives vaccinated and tested people more freedom." This is "constitutionally imperative and must therefore take place very promptly". Group Vice Thorsten Frei (CDU) said the compromise would help "to bridge the difficult weeks until the end of June at the latest".

No pandemic regulations without the Bundestag

What is also new is that the federal government cannot issue ordinances to contain the pandemic bypassing the Bundestag. «The Bundestag has to agree. Without any reservations or conditions, ”said SPD parliamentary deputy Dirk Wiese. Criticism came from his group colleague Karl Lauterbach in the "Welt". "If the contact restrictions were softened, they would lose around 50 percent of their effectiveness compared to an exit restriction from 8 p.m.". This means that there will also be “avoidable” deaths.

Coronavirus