At the federal-state summit, Olaf Scholz and Co decided to relax the current rules massively.
An incendiary speech by the chancellor followed.
The news ticker.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz* (SPD) and the prime ministers of the federal states will discuss the corona situation in Germany at the federal-state summit on Wednesday, February 16th.
Freedom Day, the day when most of the Corona rules fall, comes on March 20th.
“Basic protective measures” remain important, however.
A phased plan is to pave the way out of the pandemic by March 20
(update from February 16, 5:07 p.m.).
This
news ticker for the Corona summit on Wednesday, February 16,
is constantly updated.
Corona summit: Union-led federal states express doubts about the nursing vaccination requirement at MPK
Update from February 16, 8:55 p.m.:
The Union-led federal states of Bavaria, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt once again expressed reservations about the implementation of compulsory vaccination for employees in the German health and care sector in minutes of the Prime Ministers' Conference.
The Saxon state government stated that "leaving the process of weighing up the enforcement of compulsory vaccination and ensuring care in health and care facilities to the municipal level alone creates incomprehension and frustration".
The purpose of the institution-related vaccination obligation can also “currently no longer be achieved” due to the increased corona infections of vaccinated and recovered people due to the omicron variant, explained the Dresden state government.
In its protocol declaration, Bavaria referred to "numerous unanswered questions" and the "need for practicable, nationwide enforcement rules".
The handout presented so far by the federal government is “at best a first step”.
Ensuring the supply in the health and care sector must be given “absolute priority” when enforcing facility-related compulsory vaccination.
According to its statement in the minutes, Saxony-Anhalt also saw “important enforcement issues still open”.
The handout from the Ministry of Health in Berlin is “relevant, but non-binding”.
There are still open labor law issues.
In the event of implementation, the question of ensuring care “in regions with high rates of unvaccinated employees in the affected facilities” is also unresolved.
Update from February 16, 8:12 p.m .:
After the MPK, Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach spoke again in a ZDF “Special”.
He spoke out in favor of significantly reducing the corona measures in schools if the number of infections fell.
"If things go down systematically now, then in a few weeks the schools will also have to be relieved massively," says Lauterbach.
The federal and state governments had previously agreed to gradually withdraw essential corona measures by the beginning of spring on March 20th.
Lauterbach said the delta and omicron waves were handled well.
"We got through these waves with fewer cases and a lot fewer deaths, like some of our neighboring countries." He called the easing agreed by the federal and state governments moderate.
"If we relax disproportionately now, then we will relapse."
Update from February 16, 5:41 p.m
.: Scholz follows up again and confirms that he is not a friend of the term “Freedom Day”.
"I don't believe in such terms, they are not appropriate to the seriousness of the situation." The impression should not be given that the pandemic is over.
The press conference ended shortly thereafter.
Update from February 16, 5:35 p.m
.: In a speech that was quite emotional for him, Scholz once again praised the German pandemic policy *.
"Germany is probably the most successful country with the current pandemic development," says Scholz, banging his clenched fist on the lectern.
The Federal Republic was “better than others with the protective measures.” Scholz adds: “We have fewer dead, fewer infected.
Everyone in this country can say that.
Germany is the country that did the right thing.”
Scholz on the big celebration of "Freedom Day": "No one wants to celebrate such a party"
Update from February 16, 5:30 p.m
.: Scholz is asked about “Freedom Day”, as it was in some European countries recently.
"Nobody with political responsibility follows that." In some countries there had been big celebrations.
Referring to the federal government, including the FDP, Scholz says: "No one wants to celebrate such a party."
Update from February 16, 5:27 p.m
.: In Germany, only a few people are currently being vaccinated.
However, Giffey is confident that this trend can still be reversed: "We have seen that there is definitely potential if, for example, we work with people we trust in the respective mother tongue or with drive-in offers." The two key points of a successful vaccination campaign according to Giffey: "Trust and direct approach on site."
Update from February 16, 5:22 p.m
.: Wüst talks about the various applications for compulsory vaccination.
“No proposal has a majority yet.” The Bundestag votes on general vaccination requirements, but probably not until mid-March.
Update from February 16, 5:19 p.m
.: keyword vaccination register.
"The question is whether it's really necessary," says Scholz.
"It would also work without it." A vaccination register was still integrated in an interim draft resolution.
The passage probably came from the Union-led countries.
Scholz says: "The vaccination requirement is important and that's what it should be about" - from his point of view, apparently less about a vaccination register.
Update from February 16, 5:16 p.m
.: Scholz also addresses the obligation to vaccinate.
“It is necessary for the coming autumn and winter.
If no variant intervenes, we will experience a spring and summer without far-reaching restrictions.
We also long for it, but we need to prepare for autumn and winter.” All 16 heads of government support the general obligation to vaccinate.
"Seventeen of us think that's important."
+
Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday at the press conference after the Corona summit.
© Michele Tantussi/dpa
Update from February 16, 5:13 p.m
.: Now the question and answer session begins.
Scholz is asked about the time after March 20th.
“Most things will then be such that there are hardly any restrictions.
Masks and distance are needed.”
Update from February 16, 5:11 p.m
.: Younger people in particular should be taken into account in the easing steps.
"The conditions for children and young people are particularly important to us," says Giffey, who herself is the mother of a son.
Corona summit live: Federal-state group announces three-stage plan up to "Freedom Day"
Update from February 16, 5:07 p.m
.: Giffey announces the step-by-step plan that the federal-state group “unanimously decided”.
1st step (with immediate effect):
No 2G in retail nationwide and loosening of contact at private meetings.
All restrictions are lifted for those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered.
Means: You can meet again without an upper limit.
The stricter rules continue to apply to those who have not been vaccinated (own household plus a maximum of two other people; under-14s excluded).
2nd step (from March 4th)
: 3G instead of 2G in gastronomy and for overnight stays.
In addition, clubs and discotheques are allowed to open again (with 2Gplus).
More spectators should be allowed to attend major national events such as Bundesliga games.
Specifically: occupancy of 75 percent, but a maximum of 25,000 viewers.
For indoor events: 60 percent occupancy, maximum 6,000 spectators.
3rd step (from March 20th)
: "All more profound protective measures" are dropped.
"Basic protective measures" such as the obligation to wear a mask should continue to exist.
On the subject of "basic protection measures", Giffey says: "It is important that we have the proverbial medical kit in the trunk beyond March 20th, which just ensures that if an emergency occurs, we can act immediately."
Update from February 16, 5:05 p.m
.: Wüst addresses the recovered status.
It is not possible for the Robert Koch Institute to issue regulations almost overnight.
"The back and forth was not good, it unsettled many people, it must be ended." In the future, the Paul Ehrlich Institute and the Robert Koch Institute will no longer decide on the recovery status *.
Wüst does not provide any information about the duration of the recovered status.
It had previously been speculated whether the 90-day rule would be adjusted.
Then he appeals for vaccination and gives the floor to Franziska Giffey (SPD), Governing Mayor of Berlin.
Update from February 16, 5:02 p.m
.: Hendrik Wüst, CDU Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, is now speaking.
Wüst says that most corona measures could end from March 20 because the current Omicron situation allows it.
But the CDU man also says: Some measures will remain important - "in particular the obligation to wear masks, distance rules, hygiene rules and tests".
Corona summit: press conference with Scholz - "have achieved what we wanted"
Update from February 16, 5 p.m
.: Scholz is committed to general vaccination.
"It will be decisive when the weather gets colder again and the number of infections increases again." One should not close one's eyes to next autumn.
Update from February 16, 4:58 p.m
.: Scholz says: “We deserve it to get a little better”, but warns against the thought that the pandemic is over.
"The next variant can come around the corner and present us with a challenge." "We have achieved what we wanted with our measures," says Scholz, referring to the saving of human lives.
That's why you can "open up optimistic perspectives."
Update from February 16, 4:55 p.m
.: The press conference is running.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks of a peak in the omicron wave and "optimistic prospects until the beginning of spring".
Update from February 16, 4:26 p.m
.: The care vaccination is coming.
The federal and state governments have agreed on the basic implementation without further requests to speak.
The German Press Agency learned this on Wednesday from participants in the Prime Ministers' Conference in Berlin.
However, the final text of the decision leaves specific details open, instead it says: “The health ministers of the federal and state governments are in an intensive coordination process with the aim of continuing to ensure care in the affected facilities across the board.”
The so-called institution-related vaccination obligation should apply from March 15th.
However, this date was recently missing from the draft resolutions for the Corona summit?
How is Chancellor Olaf Scholz positioning himself?
A press conference is planned for late afternoon.
In addition, the new regulation for high-risk areas seems fixed.
The current regulation is to be revised.
"In order to take into account the incidences that have increased worldwide due to Omikron, the federal government will adjust the classification of the high-risk areas," says the resolution of the federal and state governments.
The aim of the adjustment is to make travel easier for families, “since children under the age of twelve are often not vaccinated and therefore cannot escape quarantine”.
+
Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning.
© Florian Gärtner/Photothek/Imago
Corona summit live!
Three-stage plan is coming - the big relaxation date is evident
Update from February 16, 3:55 p.m .:
In the deliberations on the current corona situation in the Prime Ministers’ Conference (MPK), there has now apparently been a first breakthrough.
According to
Spiegel
information, the federal and state governments have already agreed to implement the three-stage easing plan presented in the draft resolution.
The most important point: On March 20th, all “more profound protective measures” should be dropped.
By this date, it will be relaxed in three stages.
In contrast to the easing plan, however, the introduction of compulsory vaccination remains a controversial issue.
As the Spiegel
report suggests
, there is still a need for clarification between the countries, particularly with regard to the need for a vaccination register .
The negotiations at the Corona summit are likely to continue.
Update from February 16, 3:40 p.m .:
Shortly before the end of the Corona summit between the federal and state governments, changes in the recovered status are emerging.
In addition, the current draft resolution (status: 2 p.m.), which is available on
Merkur.de
, also mentions a vaccination register and possible new travel regulations.
"The federal states consider it necessary to extend the convalescent status to six months or nine months for those who have been vaccinated twice," says the draft resolution.
With regard to the "need to introduce a general obligation to vaccinate", it is emphasized that a vaccination register is necessary for this.
According to the draft resolution, the federal states are pushing for a readjustment in view of the current situation in the case of corona-related travel restrictions: "The heads of government of the federal states are of the opinion that the federal government must urgently review and adapt the classification of the high-risk areas."
Update from February 16, 2:11 p.m
.: The health system was never overloaded in the Corona crisis.
At least that's what the Ministry of Health says in an answer to a request from the FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki.
According to
Bild
, it says : "A Germany-wide, regional simultaneous overload of all available ITS capacities, which would have meant a systemic undersupply of Covid-19 cases requiring intensive care or their strategic transfer abroad, did not occur."
Exciting: The request to the SPD-led ministry comes from an FDP politician, so the critical question comes from within your own government.
Actually, such inquiries to the federal government are mainly made by the opposition.
However, the inquiry also affects the time of GroKo retrospectively.
In any case, Kubicki now sees the answer as evidence that the corona measures should be lifted.
“This means that the main argument for the restrictions on fundamental rights is no longer applicable.
These must therefore be completely abolished by the constitution - including those that are defined as less intervention-intensive, for example the obligation to wear a mask," said the party deputy of the
picture
.
The question is how high the burden on the clinics would have been if the restrictions in Germany had been looser.
The Ministry of Health writes: "One of the goals of the measures to combat the pandemic was and is to avoid overloading the health system."
Update from February 16, 11.45 a.m
.: The Corona summit is on.
The prime ministers have started their deliberations on easing the measures.
A press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled for the afternoon.
Before the Corona summit: Discussions about the obligation to wear masks - more focus on schools
Update from February 16, 11:32 a.m
.: Most of the corona measures in Germany will end on March 20th.
In a draft resolution for the Corona summit on Tuesday evening, which is available on
Merkur.de
*, it says: “By the start of spring on March 20, 2022, the far-reaching restrictions on social, cultural and economic life should be gradually withdrawn.” Only "Basic protective measures", such as the obligation to wear a mask, for example on buses and trains.
Meanwhile, the Greens want to keep more measures.
"I firmly assume that we will need more than the mask requirement," said Greens Parliament Secretary Irene Mihalic.
As examples, she cited the obligation to test in certain facilities as well as in schools and daycare centers or distance and hygiene rules.
Mihalic pointed out that a corresponding regulation in the Infection Protection Act does not automatically mean that these measures will also be applied.
Rather, it is about a toolbox that the countries can fall back on if necessary.
The details are already being discussed at the specialist level.
Update from February 16, 10:50 a.m .:
In previous summits, measures in schools were often a long-standing issue.
Recently, this has receded more into the background at the Corona summits.
The Greens have now warned the federal and state governments against ignoring children and young people when discussing easing.
These "now need the solidarity and protection of society," Greens parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.
"This applies to better support for psychosocial emergencies and depression and anxiety, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic."
Better support for parents and families is just as necessary when it comes to child sick pay and loss of earnings, said Hasselmann.
“The prime ministers' conference should also deal with the life situation and perspectives of children, young people and families.
We need more support and a safety perspective for children and young people.”
Federal Minister of Education Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP), in turn, warns of restraint with regard to the planned easing with regard to schools.
"We should still exercise caution in the schools in the coming weeks," she told the newspapers of the
editorial network Germany
.
"If we continue to test the students regularly and they wear masks at school, we can combine face-to-face teaching and infection protection well." This is also a contribution to equal opportunities.
"That's why we should stick to it for a few more weeks - until the infection situation allows relaxation in the education sector in a regionally differentiated manner." However, "low-threshold hygiene measures" in schools could still be necessary afterwards.
Corona summit: Changes to the recovered status possible
Update from February 16, 9.35 a.m .:
Do the federal and state governments agree on an adjustment of the recovered status at the Corona summit?
As
RND
and
Focus Online
report, countries, apparently especially the union-led federal states, want a change.
A draft resolution from Tuesday evening at 9:45 p.m. shows that the convalescent status should be extended again to six months.
In the case of double-vaccinated people, the status may even last nine months.
There are no final decisions yet.
Update from February 16, 9.30 a.m .:
There is an updated draft resolution for today’s prime minister’s conference on the corona situation*.
Accordingly, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the country heads want to relax even further than originally planned.
For example, contact restrictions for those who have recovered and those who have been vaccinated are to be completely abolished and no specific date is given for the introduction of compulsory nursing care vaccinations.
It remains to be seen whether the federal and state governments will agree to the draft resolution this Wednesday.
The shift begins at 11:30 a.m.
Before the Corona summit: the CDU calls for the convalescent status to be extended
Update from February 16, 9:21 a.m
.: The Union follows up in the debate about the corona recovery status
(see previous update)
.
She wants to submit an application to the Bundestag "that provides for the re-extension of the convalescent status to 180 days".
That said parliamentary group leader Sepp Müller (CDU) to the
editorial network Germany (RND)
.
And further: "The transfer of competence for the duration of the recovered status to the RKI must be reversed."
Lauterbach wants to withdraw RKI power over corona recovery status
Update from February 16, 7:03 a.m
.: "I would like to make decisions myself and directly about far-reaching decisions such as the recovered status": Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) to have the competence to change the length of the corona recovered status, withdraw again.
That's what the SPD politician said in the
picture
today, Wednesday.
"Otherwise I bear the political responsibility for the actions of others," Lauterbach continued in an interview with the newspaper.
The RKI was heavily criticized in mid-January for shortening the convalescent status.
Lauterbach had assured RKI boss Lothar Wieler of his trust.
The controversial shortening of the convalescent status should be reversed according to a draft resolution for the federal-state consultations that became known in advance
(see first report)
.
The paper contains a corresponding sentence on Lauterbach's concerns.
+
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD)
© Frederic Kern/Imago
Corona Summit: New rules, compulsory vaccination, "Freedom Day" - that's on the agenda
First report from February 15
: The consultations on the corona situation in Germany will enter a new round on Wednesday, February 16: Chancellor Olaf Scholz will discuss with the prime ministers of the federal states how to proceed in the corona pandemic.
But this time it is not about tightening, but about extensive easing of the measures to contain the corona virus *.
The federal and state governments provide a three-stage plan for the easing.
This emerges from a decision paper available on
Merkur.de
*.
If the group agrees to this draft, there should be hardly any restrictions in some areas until March 20th, apart from a mask requirement.
The plans were hotly debated in advance.
Some urged caution, others - like the well-known virologist Klaus Stöhr, would rather relax faster.*
Corona summit on Wednesday: These relaxations are planned
The phased plan for corona loosening provides that more contacts should be possible again at private meetings from now on.
Vaccinated and recovered people should then meet 20 people at the same time instead of 10.
In addition, 2G is to fall in retail - where it hasn't already happened.
According to the draft resolution, the next easing step is due on March 4th: 3G instead of 2G should then apply in restaurants and hotels.
Even unvaccinated people with a current corona test could then go out to eat again and stay in hotels.
In addition, more spectators should be allowed at major events, up to 25,000 people.
From March 20th, all corona measures should then be dropped - except for the obligation to wear masks on buses and trains and indoors.
Corona summit on Wednesday: more leeway with compulsory vaccination
At the Corona summit on Wednesday, the Corona vaccination requirement* will also be discussed.
According to the draft resolution, the partial vaccination requirement for nursing staff should be adhered to.
There had been a lot of fuss about the vaccination requirement in recent weeks after Bavaria's Prime Minister Söder announced that he did not want to implement the vaccination requirement for the time being.
The federal-state government now wants to give the health authorities more leeway in how to deal with unvaccinated hospital and nursing staff.
An entry ban should represent the last step.
+
Are the Corona measures coming to an end?
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (centre) at the federal-state summit in December.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
Corona summit on Wednesday: Recovered status is newly regulated
With the recovered status, another exciting topic is discussed at the Corona summit with the federal and state governments.
The recovered status was surprisingly shortened to 90 days in mid-January.
The protest was huge, and there is still confusion about how long one is considered recovered.
At the Prime Minister's Conference, the RKI is apparently to be deprived of the sole decision-making power over the recovered status.
A gossip for Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach - who is currently being criticized for several points anyway.
After all, the SPD politician was now also the bearer of good news: on the day before the Corona summit, Lauterbach said that he considered the omicron wave to be broken and wanted to support the easing that was to be voted on at the federal-state summit.
(smu) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
List of rubrics: © Britta Pedersen
