Enlarge image
Travelers at the train station in Dusseldorf
Photo: Marcel Kusch / dpa
From February 2nd, the mask requirement will no longer apply in local and long-distance traffic nationwide.
The federal states agreed on this regulation a few weeks ago, with reference to an easing of the infection situation.
Several federal states had previously abolished the mask requirement in local transport.
However, the Federal Ministry of Health is promoting the continued wearing of a mask voluntarily for self-protection.
In Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia, travelers are allowed to board without mouth and nose protection from today, Wednesday.
"Of course, those who want to protect themselves can wear a mask voluntarily," said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in North Rhine-Westphalia.
One day later, the mask requirement in local transport also ends in Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Berlin, Brandenburg and Saarland.
Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein had already abolished the obligation.
"We have the pandemic under control," said Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil, explaining the decision to the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung".
Elimination of the obligation to isolate
In addition to the mask requirement, the isolation requirement, according to which people had to isolate themselves for several days in the event of a corona infection, is also no longer applicable in several federal states.
This applies in Lower Saxony, Bremen and Hamburg.
In medical practices, patients must continue to wear a mask under the Federal Infection Protection Act.
The same applies to visitors in hospitals or care facilities who also need a negative corona test.
Doctors had advocated the end of the mask requirement on buses and trains.
Top representatives of the German Hospital Society (DKG) and the German Association of General Practitioners described the decision as an obvious step.
However, DKG boss Gaß Gerald Gaß appealed to citizens to wear a mask if they had symptoms of illness and to stay at home.
Doctors' representatives are also pushing for an end to the mask requirement in doctor's offices.
“The pandemic situation is over,” said KBV chairman Andreas Gassen to the editorial network Germany (RND).
The practices should decide this independently.
Own regulations in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg
Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are already taking this step: Employees in medical practices and other outpatient medical facilities no longer have to wear mouth and nose protection there.
The same applies to people in communal accommodation, for example in accommodation for refugees or the homeless.
"For the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic three years ago, there are no longer any general mandatory protective measures under Bavarian law," said Bavaria's Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU).
He emphasized: "This is a milestone and shows that normality is becoming more and more common." The strictest corona rules nationwide once applied in the Free State.
lmd/dpa