This is in the draft law for the nationwide emergency brake
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The federal government should get more power in corona politics. The Infection Protection Act is tightened. An overview of the measures.
To break the third wave in the corona pandemic, the federal government wants to tighten the Infection Protection Act. The federal government announced this on Friday. Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said the goal was “more clarity and transparency” for citizens. “Everyone must know what they are about.”
What is meant is what will apply nationwide in the future if the seven-day incidence rises above 100 in a rural or urban district. This was decided at the beginning of March by Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Minister as a threshold value from which particularly drastic measures must be taken to reduce the number of infections again.
Currently, many districts in Germany are already above the value of 100. In Berlin – as of Friday – according to the figures from the Robert Koch Institute, all districts are below that.
However, this “emergency brake” was controversial – and the federal states used their options to implement it according to their ideas. From a federal point of view, they went too far. “The solution that has now been found was necessary because the emergency brake has been designed very differently,” said government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer on Friday.
Possible measures are in a draft that apparently went into the departmental coordination between the federal ministries on Friday afternoon and is available to the Tagesspiegel.
This is what the draft law provides:
- Hard, regional lockdown if the threshold of 100 is exceeded.
- Private gatherings are limited to members of the household and one additional person.
- Curfews from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., with exceptions for emergencies or work-related reasons.
- All shops have to close too – with the exception of grocery stores, pharmacies, drug stores and petrol stations.
- Cultural and leisure facilities such as zoos, swimming pools, museums etc. must also close.
- The gastronomy remains closed. Pick-up and delivery of food is permitted.
- Wherever possible, work should take place in the home office.
- If the incidence value falls below 100 for three days, the measures can be omitted. If it is above this for three days, they come into force again.
- Schools and daycare centers are only allowed to remain open if the incidence is below 200. Even then, students are only allowed to attend classes if they test themselves twice a week.
According to data compiled by the Tagesspiegel, there are currently 390 counties with more than 50 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days. The districts Hof (581), Scheinfurt (460), Greiz (378), Erzgebirgekreis (316), Vogtlandkreis (310), Gotha (308) and the Wartburgkreis (301) have the highest incidences. 119 districts are currently below the threshold of 100, eleven report an incidence of below 50.
Schleswig-Flensburg (22), Plön (29), St. Wendel (30), North Friesland (32), Friesland (38), Dithmarschen (40), Osterholz (41) have the fewest newly infected people per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days. , Ostholstein (46), Rendsburg-Eckernförde (48), Goslar (49) and Höxter (49). There is currently no district that has not reported a new case of Sars-CoV-2 in the past seven days.
There are currently so many new cases in the federal states.
The table shows how many new cases have tested positive and reported in the federal states in the past seven days. The diagrams give an impression of how the number of new infections per day has developed since the beginning of March.
| Bundesland | Fälle letzte 7 Tage | pro 100.000 Einw. | 04.03.2020 — 14.04.2021 | Fälle gesamt | Tote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baden-Württemberg | 19.503 | 401.576 | 9.042 | ||
| Bayern | 23.878 | 544.921 | 13.749 | ||
| Berlin | 5.621 | 157.020 | 3.143 | ||
| Brandenburg | 3.654 | 95.447 | 3.462 | ||
| Bremen | 1.189 | 23.077 | 433 | ||
| Hamburg | 2.848 | 67.132 | 1.423 | ||
| Hessen | 10.784 | 239.517 | 6.672 | ||
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 2.757 | 35.430 | 922 | ||
| Niedersachsen | 10.298 | 217.654 | 5.199 | ||
| Nordrhein-Westfalen | 28.679 | 665.934 | 14.830 | ||
| Rheinland-Pfalz | 5.757 | 127.795 | 3.471 | ||
| Saarland | 1.312 | 34.351 | 958 | ||
| Sachsen | 11.149 | 242.422 | 8.777 | ||
| Sachsen-Anhalt | 4.574 | 82.156 | 2.949 | ||
| Schleswig-Holstein | 2.293 | 54.512 | 1.476 | ||
| Thüringen | 5.794 | 106.072 | 3.635 | ||
| Deutschland gesamt | 140.090 | 3.095.016 | 80.141 |
It is not entirely certain whether the catalog of binding measures will still be there after the ministerial coordination. There can still be changes in detail, but points can also be completely changed or even deleted. Because some things have been disputed in the coalition so far, not least the obligation to work from home, where this is possible.
At the weekend, the finished draft of the federal government should go to the federal states, which are also likely to need clarification or change. The fact that the possibility of a federal regulation is in the draft could lead to differences. A switching conference between Chancellery Minister Helge Braun and the federal states is planned for Sunday evening.
Cabinet is supposed to pass draft on Tuesday
The timetable for the legislative project is not yet entirely clear. But the federal cabinet is supposed to decide on a draft next Tuesday. Then it goes to the Bundestag, which could decide in an urgent procedure, as Parliament President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) made clear – in extreme cases, next week.
The Federal Council could finally hold a special session on April 16. Then the law would apply as early as April 19th. In the case of a lengthy Bundestag procedure, if the opposition should not go along with the shortening, April 26th is targeted.
Berlin sees little leeway
Several prime ministers announced that their countries would agree. Previously, the cancellation of the federal-state summit with Merkel planned for Monday caused astonishment and resentment. Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) did not comment on the cancellation of the Prime Minister’s Conference. There are permanent voting rounds of the country chiefs, said his spokeswoman.
She rejected the impression that the cancellation meant a loss of power for Müller, who is currently chairman of the conference of prime ministers. In view of the announced tightening of the Infection Protection Act, the spokeswoman was calm. In Berlin, compared to many other federal states, strict rules would already apply. There is little scope for further tightening.
Health Minister Jens Spahn said in a press conference on Friday morning that social contacts would have to be restricted, if necessary with curfews at night. “It needs a lockdown.” This is the only way to break the third wave of infections. There are already almost 4,500 patients in intensive care units. “If this continues, there will be too many for our health system.”
Union faction wants more influence
Previously, the CDU MPs Norbert Röttgen, Johann Wadephul and Yvonne Magwas in a letter to their parliamentary group colleagues criticized the increasingly inconsistent interpretation of the measures from country to country.
“Lastly and continuously” an “agreement on joint action was no longer possible,” criticize the Union MPs in the letter that is available to the Tagesspiegel. “This made the weakness of the Infection Protection Act visible, which consists in the fact that this law only empowers the state governments to issue statutory ordinances with which the objectives of the law are to be fulfilled, but not the federal government,” it says. The Bundestag must “quickly close this gap in the Infection Protection Act”. Whether there will be a possibility of a federal ordinance in the law remained open on Friday.
[You can find all current developments in the coronavirus pandemic here in our news blog . We will keep you up to date on developments in Berlin in particular . ]
Merkel had already made it clear to an audience of millions on March 28 on the ARD program “Anne Will” that the current lockdown requirements were not enough for her. “We now have to take the appropriate measures with great seriousness. And some federal states are doing this, others are not doing it yet, ”said Merkel.
Merkel: curfews are an effective means
If that does not happen “in the very foreseeable future”, she would have to think about how this could be regulated nationwide. “That is my oath of office, that is my obligation.” One possibility is “to tackle the Infection Protection Act again and to say very specifically what must happen in which case”. She explicitly mentioned curfews, which “can be a very effective means”.
Merkel emphasized that, in the end, majorities in the Bundestag and Bundesrat were required for all decisions. The federal and state governments must act together. “We cannot decide anything without each other.” The Chancellor made it clear: “In any case, I will not watch that we have 100,000 infected people.”
Merkel also targeted her party colleagues Laschet and Tobias Hans, the prime ministers from North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland, in the TV program. Laschet is now advocating a nationwide “bridge lockdown” . But Hans sticks to his “model region Saarland”. There, the measures have been greatly relaxed after Easter under strict conditions. Outdoor catering is also open again in the SPD-ruled Rhineland-Palatinate.
