North Rhine-Westphalia wants to return to normal and is lifting a whole series of corona restrictions from this Friday. However, there are also plans if the infections rise again.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, many corona restrictions will be removed from this Friday – even though the more contagious Delta variant is spreading across Germany and, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), has now become the predominant virus mutation in this country.
NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) presented the so-called “incidence level zero” for his state on Wednesday, which means a kind of timetable for easing. The level takes effect as soon as districts or urban districts have a maximum of ten new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days on five days in a row. This means that many corona rules no longer apply. For example, masks no longer have to be worn – with the exception of a few areas such as retail, medical practices, schools, public transport or taxis.
North Rhine-Westphalia is pushing ahead with corona easing
NRW is loosening up significantly earlier than other federal states and also earlier than planned. So far, some restrictions had not been expected to be lifted until the end of August.
Now, however, things are going much faster in the most populous federal state: The conservative-liberal state government wants to return to pre-pandemic normality as quickly as possible, because the corona numbers are low overall. Laumann also justified the decision with the fact that the number of serious illnesses was falling and there were fewer hospital admissions and intensive treatments due to Corona.
The new Corona Protection Ordinance provides for a far-reaching opening of many areas of life. Discos, sporting events, music festivals and folk festivals are then again permitted. In many areas, there are also no contact restrictions or follow-up obligations.
The distance rules, for example, are only to be understood as recommendations in the private sphere, reports “RP-Online” and lists the new regulations in detail. Contact data no longer have to be recorded in the catering industry – but the regulation remains in place in hotels and in tourism. In general, the conservative-liberal state government wants to enable a “life like before Corona”, as Laumann (CDU) emphasized on Wednesday in Düsseldorf.
For many observers, the announcement on Wednesday came as a surprise, as the delta variant of the corona virus is currently causing uncertainty. Most recently, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) had dampened the hope of a nationwide quick lifting of all corona easing and thus contradicted his cabinet colleague, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD), who had just suggested that. In view of the low infeltion numbers, it is no longer possible to justify the restriction of civil liberties, is the argument of the supporters of relaxation.
Karl Lauterbach criticizes Corona policy in NRW
On Thursday, the SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach classified the advance from North Rhine-Westphalia as premature: “We are in a phase in which the number of cases is rising again and vaccination progress is slowing. The timing of the easing surprised me, I had a later one Better found time, “said Lauterbach on the radio program WDR 2.
He would have been happy “if we had continued with the vaccination,” said Lauterbach. “Now we will have a greater danger situation in autumn,” fears the health expert. When asked how best to behave, he said: “Do as much as possible outside and be careful inside: wear a mask and keep your distance.”
On Thursday morning, the seven-day incidence in North Rhine-Westphalia was 5.7, 0.1 lower than the previous day, according to data from the RKI. NRW Health Minister Laumann urged people to get vaccinated. “The fourth wave will come our way,” he said on WDR.
In NRW, however, the current situation is also being closely monitored. Laumann emphasized several times that the easing would be withdrawn if the number of infections increased, according to “RP-Online”. Vaccination must also be pushed further. Every citizen in North Rhine-Westphalia should receive a vaccination offer by autumn. There are still more than 300,000 free appointments in the coming week.
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See in the video: After the break caused by the corona virus, the red carpet is being rolled out again in Cannes. Nevertheless, there are still requirements due to the pandemic.
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