Germany to amend law for nationwide COVID-19 response

10 April 2021 14:51 (UTC+04:00)

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Germany would amend its infection protection act to "regulate on a nationwide basis" what restrictions would apply when local seven-day COVID-19 incidence exceeded 100 per 100,000 citizens, deputy government spokesperson Ulrike Demmer said Friday, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

Demmer told a press conference that it was not yet clear how quickly the change in the law would be implemented, but it would be done "as quickly as possible."

In the past, Germany's COVID-19 response has been characterized by regional differences as the ultimate legal power lay with the country's federal states. Although Chancellor Angela Merkel and the state governments agreed on an emergency brake in case of a seven-day incidence above 100, not all states reacted accordingly in recent weeks.

Earlier on Friday, Minister of Health Jens Spahn and the president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) Lothar Wieler warned that the COVID-19 situation in Germany was serious as the number of patients in intensive care units was rising rapidly.

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