The corona quarantine should be voluntary – at least if Karl Lauterbach (59, SPD) has his way.
The Federal Minister of Health plans that infected people can voluntarily isolate themselves for five days and then “free test” with a self-test. A minimum five-day quarantine then only applies to staff in hospitals and nursing homes, from which one can be released with a negative PCR test. So far, the quarantine has usually lasted ten days and can be ended after seven days at the earliest.
Lauterbach still has to discuss his proposal with the state health ministers. At the last conference, however, they had already planned to adapt the quarantine and isolation rules to the milder omicron variant. It’s about a “balance of practicability, caution and necessary personal responsibility”. The FDP in particular had insisted on relaxing the quarantine regulations.
▶︎ Called: Lauterbach’s proposal has a good chance of getting through.
Because the omicron wave continues to rage through Germany – in most cases, however, those infected only have a mild course. Nevertheless, almost 4.3 million Germans are currently in quarantine. In companies and hospitals, this sometimes leads to considerable absences of staff.
In Germany, the 7-day incidence on Thursday is 1625.1, while the hospital incidence is 7.21. A week ago, the nationwide incidence was 1752.0 (previous month: 1171.9).