pandemic
Waiting for Corona rules bill from March 20th
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach indicated a so-called hotspot regulation. Photo: Christophe Gateau/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
For weeks, politicians have been discussing which measures to contain Corona should still be possible in the future. The time pressure is increasing – because the nationwide legal basis is about to expire.
Which corona rules should remain possible in Germany from March 20th? A draft law by the red-green-yellow traffic light coalition is eagerly awaited. When that will come, however, was initially unclear.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) said on Tuesday afternoon that the consultations were about to be completed. “We will definitely be able to come up with a proposal in the next few hours that will make important basic protective measures possible for the countries,” said Lauterbach. It was initially unclear whether a draft could still be discussed in the cabinet today.
“Hotspot regulation” planned
Lauterbach only indicated so much about a possible content of the draft: A so-called hotspot regulation will play an important role. Even after most corona measures have expired on March 20, it should provide “good protection” for the population in those areas where the number of new corona infections is particularly high. In a discussion on Facebook, he later said that a new infection protection law would definitely continue to make masks compulsory in certain areas.
According to a relaxation plan decided by the federal and state governments, “all more profound” corona restrictions are to be lifted on March 20th, if the situation in the clinics allows it. A “basic protection” should also remain after that. The nationwide legal basis for such measures expires on March 19. A new basis for measures after this deadline would have to be launched this week so that the Bundestag can decide on it in good time.
Holetschek calls for nationwide regulations
Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) demanded that the federal government continue to set uniform standards. He said to the “Augsburger Allgemeine”: “I do not hope that the federal government will now withdraw from this responsibility and shift everything to the states, which will then have to make separate decisions based on different, differentiated parameters.” The federal government is responsible for presenting a national emergency plan. “It must be clear which measures are uniformly possible in an escalating situation,” said Holetschek. He accused the FDP of still dreaming of a “Freedom Day” and that the pandemic would be over from one day to the next. “That will not be the case.”
With a view to the further course of the pandemic and future epidemics, the Federal Government’s Corona Expert Council called for a rapid adjustment of infection protection measures. “Response speed is a critical factor in successfully controlling infectious threats,” the panel said. The Expert Council emphatically pleads “for a legal framework that provides ad hoc tools for infection and civil protection and thus enables infection protection measures to be adapted immediately”.