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A traveler has an employee of the German Red Cross (DRK) do a corona test at Hamburg Airport
Photo: Daniel Bockwoldt / dpa
The obligation to test for people who are traveling back to Germany seems to be a done deal.
But when does it apply?
And for whom?
The federal government is now under time pressure when planning.
A government spokeswoman left a start date open on Wednesday, pointing out that internal votes were still ongoing.
Regulations for return travelers are also on the list of topics of the Corona round of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) with the prime ministers of the federal states on August 10, said the spokeswoman.
What can be clarified beforehand will of course be clarified.
The rule is: "The faster the better."
A spokeswoman for Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) said that if it were up to the health department, the obligation to test would long apply.
"If it is the beginning of August, then we can only welcome that." Spahn had already brought the stricter regulations into play two weeks ago.
However, there was a dispute in the government about the implementation.
What is politics asking for?
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) had named next Sunday as a possible start date.
He said in the ARD that the federal government had promised that it would try everything by August 1 to introduce a uniform test requirement.
An originally planned date from September 11 would have been "a joke," said Söder, "the vacation is over, even in the countries with late vacation."
The Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock made a similar statement.
She warned that one should not repeat the mistakes of the previous summer, that one should only think about better protection when the vacationers are back.
In the first countries, the end of the summer vacation is approaching, at the same time the currently low number of infections continues to rise in Germany.
Health Minister Spahn and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) plan that a negative test should be necessary when entering the country if you have no proof of a complete vaccination or recovery.
Such a general test obligation currently already exists for air passengers.
In the future, it should work, regardless of where and what means of transport you come from - including by car or train.
Details are still being discussed.
However, it is not intended that every person entering the country will be checked directly at the border, as was the case at some border sections in spring 2020.
Instead, the ministers want to rely on random checks in the border area.
According to SPIEGEL information, they also want "free testing" of a quarantine requirement to be possible in future only with a negative PCR test.
Meanwhile, the SPD is pushing for legally secure solutions.
Such test obligations make sense, but must stand in court, said the legal policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Johannes Fechner.
"The Bundestag should quickly, if necessary in a special session in August, create the conditions for new test obligations."
The Green Party politician Irene Mihalic told SPIEGEL: "The expansion of the test obligation to all travelers is correct in view of the new infections.
However, I expect the federal government to explain exactly how and with what personnel this should be controlled. "
AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel turned against a general obligation to test.
This would put a disproportionate burden on travelers, border authorities and the tourism industry.
She spoke of the uncertainty of vacationers who had to stop.
What are the current rules?
A minor change to quarantine requirements has been in effect since Wednesday.
Anyone who comes from an area with new, more contagious virus variants can end the mandatory 14-day quarantine prematurely with a negative test if the region is downgraded during the quarantine period - to a risk area or high incidence area with high numbers of infections.
Vaccinated persons usually no longer need to be in quarantine after their return if they send proof of vaccination.
In principle, premature “free testing” is otherwise not possible for those arriving from virus variant areas.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) publishes on the Internet which regions the federal government declares as high-risk, high-incidence or virus variant areas with requirements for tests and quarantine.
Currently, South Africa and Brazil are virus variant areas, among others.
According to SPIEGEL information, the federal government is also planning to simplify the country categories and want to reduce their number from three to two.
This should facilitate the implementation of the entry controls.
What measures could follow?
With a view to autumn, additional measures against increasing numbers of infections are also being discussed - this should also be the topic of the federal-state round with Merkel.
The RKI also sees a need for action.
"The fourth wave has begun," says a paper that RKI boss Lothar Wieler presented at a switching conference with the heads of the state chancelleries.
High vaccination rates alone were not enough to keep the wave flat.
Additional "basic protection measures" such as distance and masks are necessary.
The paper also lists the aspects »reduction of contacts, reduction of mobility« in bullet points.
In order to discuss additional criteria for assessing the situation, the RKI paper states that the seven-day incidence remains important in order to assess the situation in Germany and initiate control measures at an early stage.
SPD legal expert Fechner said with a view to this debate that the Bundestag would probably have to meet in August anyway to decide on the fund for flood aid.
"The urgently needed amendment to the Infection Protection Act could then be resolved, which will bind the introduction of corona requirements to other criteria in addition to the incidence value in the future."
Nationwide, the number of new infections reported per 100,000 inhabitants rose further to 15.0 in seven days, according to the RKI - the previous day this seven-day incidence was 14.5.
lukewarm / wow / cos / dpa
