Will the partial lockdown come over New Year's Eve?

Summit will probably bring corona tightening for vaccinated people as well

Created: 12/20/2021, 8:01 PM

From: Andreas Schmid

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (both SPD) in conversation.

Another corona summit will take place on Tuesday.

© Florian Gaertner / Photothek / Imago Images

Tightening will be discussed before the Corona summit.

Initially, the word lockdown was seldom used, although restrictions should also apply to vaccinated persons.

The news ticker.

• On Tuesday (December 21), the federal and state governments will meet for a short-term corona summit.

• A tightening of the measures, also for those who have been vaccinated, is being discussed.

• The federal and state governments are ruling out a lockdown before Christmas, but stricter rules will still come.

  A partial lockdown seems possible.

• This news ticker is continuously updated.

Berlin - The corona measures in Germany are likely to be tightened.

On Tuesday, the federal and state governments want to discuss stricter rules such as contact restrictions.

A nationwide lockdown should not exist, it was previously said - especially since this pandemic control instrument is currently not legally possible.

However, that does not mean that it will continue to do so in the future.

Lockdown in Germany: Lauterbach, Habeck and Lindner say "No"

Karl Lauterbach (SPD) made a promise to the population on Sunday (December 19).

"We will not experience a lockdown here like in the Netherlands," said the health minister in the ARD "report from Berlin".

In Germany's neighboring country, very strict corona requirements have recently come into force.

Overall, politicians rarely use the word lockdown at the moment anyway.

The "lockdown" is almost only mentioned when it is pointed out that it should not exist.

FDP leader Christian Lindner spoke out in favor of “consistent measures” against the spread of Omikron.

The aim of the FDP is "to preserve as much social life as possible and to avoid lockdowns," he said at a press conference.

"The FDP knows that many people in our country are afraid of a new lockdown."

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) also announced that he wanted to bypass a lockdown.

"I think we have other options for a more differentiated approach," said Habeck on Deutschlandfunk.

His party colleague Janosch Dahmen had previously told the German Press Agency: "In view of the extremely high transferability of Omikron, we will probably not be able to avoid a lockdown after Christmas."

Want to avoid a lockdown at the moment: Robert Habeck (left) and Christian Lindner.

© Michael Kappeler / dpa

Berlin's governing mayor Michael Müller (SPD) argued that the contact restrictions discussed would not be like a “lockdown light”.

"When we say we don't want a lockdown, that means you can celebrate Christmas with the family, you can meet friends, you can visit one or the other small event," said Müller at ntv.

However, larger New Year's Eve celebrations are not responsible.

That's why there will probably be stricter rules from December 28th.

The SPD top avoided the word "lockdown" on Monday morning entirely.

“There are no red lines,” said party leader Lars Klingbeil, if the spread of the Omikron variant increases and the measures decided up to then prove to be inadequate.

Corona lockdown and the legal situation: "We can resolve the epidemic situation again immediately"

A nationwide lockdown would have to be legally legitimized in Germany.

Currently, however, the Infection Protection Act, which has recently been amended several times, sets certain limits: General exit restrictions, business or school closings are therefore not permitted.

"This is not possible due to the current legal situation," said North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) on Monday the German Press Agency.

For such extensive measures, which would amount to a lockdown, the law would have to be changed again.

Another possibility would be to resolve the epidemic situation of national importance that expired at the end of November. The hurdles for this seem to be surmountable. Union faction vice Sepp Müller (CDU) wrote on Twitter. “The instrument box from the left-yellow is not enough against the Omikron variant. We can resolve the epidemic situation of national importance immediately and thus proclaim it. ”Then a nationwide lockdown would also be possible again.

This is by no means excluded: The Association of Towns and Municipalities wants to keep the possibility of a lockdown open.

Because of the rapid spread of the Omikron variant, it could be "that the only option of last resort is a nationwide lockdown as a reaction option," said chief executive Gerd Landsberg to the newspapers of the Funke media group.