The
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
and deaths.
On 27 January 2020, the first case in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
was confirmed near
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
.
By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully contained.
On 25 and 26 February, multiple cases related to the
Italian outbreak were detected in
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
. A carnival event on 15 February in
Heinsberg
Heinsberg (; li, Hinsberg ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the seat of the district Heinsberg. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Wurm, approx. 20 km north-east of Sittard and 30 km ...
, North Rhine-Westphalia, was attended by a man identified as positive on 25 February; in the outbreak which subsequently developed from infected participants, authorities were mostly no longer able to trace the likely chains of infections. On 9 March, the first two deaths in Germany were reported from
Essen and Heinsberg.
New clusters were introduced in other regions via Heinsberg as well as via people arriving from China, Iran and Italy, from where non-Germans could arrive by plane until
17–18 March. From 13 March,
German states mandated school and kindergarten closures, postponed academic semesters and prohibited visits to nursing homes to protect the elderly. Two days later, borders to Austria, Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland were closed.
By 22 March,
curfews were imposed in six German states while other states prohibited physical contact with more than one person from outside one's household.
On 15 April 2020, Chancellor
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
spoke of "fragile intermediate success" that had been achieved in the fight against the pandemic. The same day, a first loosening of restrictions was announced, continued in early May, and eventually, holiday travels were allowed in cooperation with other European countries. A number of state premiers pressed for faster relaxation of restrictions, putting them at odds with Merkel, who favoured a more cautious approach, a pattern that repeated itself later that year.
Substantial local outbreaks in meat processing plants drew public attention beyond the epidemiological context to poor working conditions. By late August, infection numbers had returned to the levels of April, and a possible second wave of the pandemic was under debate. By mid October, it was believed by experts to be inevitable. A partial lockdown from 2 November only temporarily halted the rise in case numbers; the total number of reported infections since the start of the pandemic crossed one million on 27 November.
A hard lockdown from 15 December made
FFP2 masks or other clinical masks mandatory on public transport and in shops. Repeated lockdown extensions were mainly motivated by the appearance of the
Alpha variant
The Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) was a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. It was estimated to be 40–80% more transmissible than the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 (with most estimates occupying the middle to higher end of this range). It was first detecte ...
and other mutations. Death rates in nursing homes remained high until late January 2021 but dropped strongly in February, likely due to residents and workers at these facilities having been prioritised in the vaccination campaign.
The second wave peaked in January.
In March 2021, the Alpha variant drove a third wave of infections. The average age of the infected, as well as of those requiring intensive care, was much younger than in the first two waves.
A reform of the Infection Protection Act in late April increased federal government powers, allowing it to mandate pandemic measures in hard-hit districts; in November 2021, the measures were ruled by the
Federal Constitutional Court
The Federal Constitutional Court (german: link=no, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its in ...
to have been legal. From late April, infection numbers started to continuously decrease; the third wave was seen as broken by early May. The
Delta variant
The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in India in late 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 2021. The ...
became dominant among the new infections by the end of June, and from early July, cases started to increase again. On 20 August, the RKI assessed the country to have entered the fourth wave of the pandemic, again with most of the cases coming from the younger age groups.
With effect from 23 August, the so-called 3G rule gave those who were vaccinated, had recovered, or had a negative test result no older than 24 hours more freedom to visit numerous venues.
From mid October, infections and intensive care unit admissions started to increase again. On 4 November, as almost 34,000 reported infections set a new record since the beginning of the pandemic, Health Minister
Jens Spahn
Jens Georg Spahn (born 16 May 1980) is a German politician who served as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he has bee ...
spoke of a "massive pandemic of the unvaccinated", which was criticized by scientists for underrating the role of the vaccinated in the pandemic. Unprecedentedly high infection numbers led Germany to reintroduce free coronavirus testing in November, a month after they had been phased out, and to launch a booster campaign. Booster vaccinations were declared by new Health Minister
Karl Lauterbach to be central to the government strategy of combating the
Omicron variant
Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...
.
Warnings of a "massive fifth wave" driven by Omicron in December proved to be no exaggeration as daily case numbers rose up to over 200,000 by mid February 2022, and remained at a high level in March. Experts considered the absence of a decrease to be due to the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, which had ushered in the sixth wave of the pandemic, and expected more cases after the easing of pandemic measures scheduled to begin on 21 March.
Vaccinations with the
Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
The Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine ( INN: tozinameran), sold under the brand name Comirnaty, is an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by the German biotechnology company BioNTech. For its development, BioNTech collaborated with Amer ...
began on 27 December 2020 (unofficially one day earlier); vaccinations with the
Moderna COVID-19 vaccine
The Moderna COVID19 vaccine ( INN: elasomeran), sold under the brand name Spikevax, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by American company Moderna, the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Biomed ...
, the
AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...
vaccine and the
Janssen COVID-19 vaccine
The Janssen COVID19 vaccine, sold under the brand name Jcovden, is a COVID19 vaccine that was developed by Janssen Vaccines in Leiden, Netherlands, and its Belgian parent company Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of American company John ...
began in mid January, early February, and mid March 2021 respectively. Vaccinations with AstraZeneca were stalled on 16 March 2021 due to concerns about rare and potentially lethal side effects but resumed on 19 March after the
European Medicines Agency deemed the vaccine "safe and effective".
On 30 March, German vaccination commission
STIKO recommended limiting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to those aged 60 or over, but revised this on 22 April to allow for use in younger ages, subject to their consent to medical advice about the risks.
Vaccinations accelerated in April, with a total of 15 million shots given that month. On 6 May, the AstraZeneca vaccine was made available to all adults,
with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following on 10 May
and all others on 7 June.
Vaccination with AstraZeneca ceased on 1 December 2021. On 3 February 2022, the
Novavax COVID-19 vaccine
The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, sold under the brand names Nuvaxovid and Covovax, among others, is a subunit COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Full results from Nuvaxovid's p ...
was approved. , 68.1 per cent of the total population had completed their vaccination, with considerable regional variation across states.
In mid-January 2022, the RKI reported that just under 75 per cent had received at least one vaccination.
Background
Outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease
On 12 January 2020, the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
(WHO) confirmed that a
novel coronavirus
Novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a provisional name given to coronaviruses of medical significance before a permanent name is decided upon. Although coronaviruses are endemic in humans and infections normally mild, such as the common cold (caused by ...
was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in
Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...
, Hubei, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
The
case fatality ratio
In epidemiology, case fatality rate (CFR) – or sometimes more accurately case-fatality risk – is the proportion of people diagnosed with a certain disease, who end up dying of it. Unlike a disease's mortality rate, the CFR does not take int ...
for COVID-19 is lower than
SARS of 2003,
but the
transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.
Infection Protection Act
In the implementation of federal and state guidelines to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the Infection Protection Act (, IfSG) has played a central role. Enacted in 2000, the IfSG authorises state governments to issue regulations to control communicable diseases, and to order protective measures including quarantine, thus granting them considerable power in relation to the federal government, whose primary task is to coordinate the measures taken.
Pressure by state premiers repeatedly forced Chancellor Merkel to soften anti-pandemic measures.
In March 2020, the federal government drafted a change to the IfSG to allow the federal government more power over the federal states. Among others it would allow the health ministry
A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...
to prohibit border crossings, track the contacts of infected persons and enlist doctors, medicine students and other health care workers in the efforts against an infectious disease. A condition for use of the additional powers is the determination of an epidemic situation of national significance ( :de:Epidemische Lage von nationaler Tragweite). The Bundestag made this determination on 25 March, the same day it approved the amendments to the IfSG. The amendments became law on 27 March. The determination was extended repeatedly, for the fourth time on 25August 2021 for tentatively three months. In a 11 November Bundestag debate, chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz pushed for the state of emergency to end on 25 November as scheduled; in justification of this measure, which was expected to go ahead, fellow Social Democrat Dirk Wiese said that "lockdowns for the entire republic and de-facto occupational bans ... we no longer consider proportionate". On the same occasion, Scholz called for parliamentary support for a catalogue of new measures that would replace the state of emergency.
On 18 November 2020, a reform of the IfSG which had been proposed by the ruling Grand coalition was passed in the Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
with 415 votes in favour, 236 against, and eight abstentions. The regulations of the law include a specification of the scope of measures which may be taken by individual states to combat a health emergency such as the current pandemic. The purpose of the law was to put measures that had been previously enacted by decree on a more firm legal basis. It also addressed complaints from across the political spectrum about what they saw as diminished role of the parliament. The opposition parties in parliament remained dissatisfied with the reformed law.
A further revision of the IfSG came into force on 22 April 2021, allowing the federal government to mandate curfews from 24 April.
National Pandemic Plan
Germany has a common National Pandemic Plan, which describes the responsibilities and measures of the health care system actors in case of a huge epidemic. Epidemic control is executed both by the federal authorities such as Robert Koch Institute and by the German states. The German states have their own epidemic plans. On 4 March, the RKI published an extension of the national plan, which it had produced in collaboration with several other entities, for the handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Four major targets are included in this plan:
* Reduce morbidity and mortality
* Ensure treatment of infected persons
* Upkeep of essential public services
* Reliable and accurate information for decision-makers, medical professionals, media and public
The plan has three stages, which might eventually overlap due to regional differences in the evolution of the pandemic:
* Containment (circumstances of dedicated cases and clusters)
* Protection (circumstances of further spreading infections and unknown sources of infections)
* Mitigation (circumstances of widespread infections)
In the ''containment stage'' health authorities are focusing on identifying contact persons who are put in personal quarantine and are monitored and tested. Personal quarantine is overseen by the local health agencies. By doing so, authorities are trying to keep infection chains short, leading to curtailed clusters. As of 4 March 2020, the pandemic was managed in the containment stage. In the ''protection stage'' the strategy will change to using direct measures to protect vulnerable persons from becoming infected. The ''mitigation stage'' will eventually try to avoid spikes of intensive treatment in order to maintain medical services.
Criticism over slow procurement of protective materials
As early as January 2020, the German Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
was fully informed about the dangers of the global spread of a coronavirus pandemic. A risk analysis predicted how dangerous a global coronavirus outbreak could be. It stated that "children ..have ..minor disease progressions" and that the risk of death of "over-65-year-olds sat 50%". It further stated that a "vaccine" is "unavailable", so all the more important is the "use of protective equipment such as protective masks, goggles and gloves". But until 24 March, the (BBK) had never set up appropriate stores or had talks with manufacturers and suppliers to prepare for such a situation, was the criticism of some experts.
Timeline by state
Baden-Württemberg
On 25 February, a 25-year-old man from Göppingen
Göppingen (Swabian: ''Geppenge'' or ''Gebbenga'') is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the district Göppingen. Göppingen is home to the toy company Märklin, and it is the bi ...
, Baden-Württemberg, who had recently returned from Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, Italy, tested positive and was treated in Klinik am Eichert. On 26 February, Baden-Württemberg confirmed three new cases. The 24-year-old girlfriend of the 25-year-old man from Göppingen and her 60-year-old father, who worked as a chief physician at University Hospital Tübingen, tested positive and were admitted to the same hospital in Tübingen
Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...
. A 32-year-old man from Rottweil, Baden-Württemberg, who had visited Codogno
Codogno (; Western Lombard, Lodigiano: ) is a town and ''comune'' of 15,868 inhabitants in the province of Lodi, Lombardy, northern Italy. It is the main center of the plain known as Basso Lodigiano, which has about 90,000 inhabitants. It received ...
, Italy with his family on 23 February, tested positive and was admitted to a hospital for isolation.
On 27 February, Baden-Württemberg confirmed four new cases, for a total of eight cases in the region. Two women and a man from Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...
, respectively, tested positive. They had had contact with an Italian participant at a business meeting in Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
; he was subsequently tested positive in Italy. A man from the district of Böblingen, who had had contact with the travel companion of the patient from Göppingen, also tested positive.
On 28 February, Baden-Württemberg confirmed five new cases, bringing the total number of cases in the state to thirteen. A man from Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg (; Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 88,000 inhabitants. It is s ...
with flu symptoms who had tested negative for influenza virus was automatically tested for SARS-CoV-2 and confirmed positive. A man from Rhine-Neckar
The Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar, ), often referred to as Rhein-Neckar-Triangle, is a polycentric metropolitan region located in south western Germany, between the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region to the North ...
returning from a short ski holiday with mild cold symptoms checked himself in to the emergency department of the University Hospital Heidelberg
University Hospital Heidelberg () is a university hospital in Heidelberg, Germany and is with 1,991 beds one of the largest medical centers in the country. It is closely linked to Heidelberg University Medical School (Heidelberg University Fac ...
and tested positive. A 32-year-old man in Heilbronn tested positive and was admitted to a hospital. He had been in Milan on 21 February and fallen ill with flu symptoms on 23 February. A man from Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
who was in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
on business was admitted to the Karlsruhe City Hospital after testing positive. His family in Nuremberg was also ill with respiratory symptoms. A man from Breisgau
The Breisgau () is an area in southwest Germany between the Rhine River and the foothills of the Black Forest. Part of the state of Baden-Württemberg, it centers on the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. The district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, ...
who had travelled to Bergamo, Italy also tested positive and underwent isolation.
After the ease of lockdown, a group of Germans who had been working in China was allowed to return. On arrival in Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
on 29 May 2020, Chinese authorities tested a 34-year-old engineer from Blaustein
Blaustein () is a town in the district of Alb-Donau Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated on the Blau River, 6 km west of Ulm and has about 15,000 inhabitants.
Before 1968, Blaustein was known as Herrlingen. It was created in 1 ...
positive for the coronavirus. A test on departure in Frankfurt had shown no infection.[Tobias Knaack : "Infektionsfall bestätigt – Mann aus Blaustein auf Flug nach China positiv getestet"](_blank)
swp.de 1 June 2020
Bavaria
On 27 January 2020, the Bavarian Ministry of Health announced that a 52-year-old employee of Webasto
Webasto SE is a company based in Stockdorf, Germany which makes sunroofs, electric-car chargers and air-conditioning systems. Holger Engelmann is the CEO of the company.
History
Coronavirus outbreak
Webasto owns 11 locations in China, in ...
, a German car parts supplier at Starnberg, Bavaria had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...
. He contracted the infection from a Chinese colleague who had received a visit in Shanghai from her parents from Wuhan. His was the first known case of a person contracting the virus outside of China from a non-relative – the first known transmission of the virus outside China being father to son in Vietnam.
On 28 January, three more cases were confirmed, a 27-year-old and a 40-year-old man as well as a 33-year-old woman. All three were also employees of Webasto. They were monitored and quarantined at the München Hospital in Schwabing
Schwabing is a borough in the northern part of Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria. It is part of the city borough 4 (Schwabing-West) and the city borough 12 (Schwabing-Freimann). The population of Schwabing is estimated about 100 ...
.
On 30 January, a man from Siegsdorf
Siegsdorf is a municipality in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany.
Famous residents
Siegsdorf is the home town of ski jumper Markus Eisenbichler and imposter and murderer Christian Gerhartsreiter
Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter ...
who worked for the same company tested positive; on 31 January and 3 February respectively, both his children tested positive. His wife also tested positive on 6 February. A 52-year-old Webasto employee from Fürstenfeldbruck tested positive.
On 1 February, a 33-year-old Webasto employee living in Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
tested positive. On 3 February, another employee was confirmed positive. On 7 February, the wife of a previously diagnosed man tested positive. On 11 February, a 49-year-old Webasto employee tested positive, as did a family member of a previously diagnosed employee.
According to reconstruction analysis published in September 2020, the outbreak at Webasto had not seeded the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, with the evidence pointing instead to the latter outbreak having been initiated by cases imported directly from China.[
]
On 27 February, Bavaria confirmed that a man from Middle Franconia
Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however ...
tested positive after he had contact with an Italian man who later tested positive as well.
On 8 March, an 83-year-old resident of the St. Nikolaus home of the elderly in Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg ...
was brought into hospital and died four days later diagnosed with COVID-19, becoming the first reported death of the virus in Bavaria. By 27 March, ten more residents of the St. Nikolaus home of the elderly had also died of the virus and 44 residents and 32 employees tested positive. The residency complained about a lack of personnel and protective equipment.
On 12 August 2020, Bavarian health authorities admitted that they had not yet informed over 44,000 returning travellers about the results of their COVID-19 tests, mostly taken at mobile testing centres at highways. It was believed that there had been over 900 positive cases among these. The government explained the glitch with missing software and an unexpected large number of volunteers tested. Health Minister Melanie Huml reportedly offered her resignation to premier Soeder, whose decision to leave her in office was met with sharp criticism by the parliamentary opposition. In January 2021, Huml was moved to a position in the Bavarian State Chancellery.
From 18 January 2021, pursuant to a 12 January decision, Bavaria made the wearing of FFP2 masks mandatory on public transport and in supermarkets, excepting bus drivers, ticket inspectors, and children aged up to 14 years. The new rule would not be policed until 24 January. The Bavarian government said it would provide masks free of charge to low-income groups and social welfare recipients.
Due to the number of occupied intensive care beds reaching 609 on 8 November 2021, thereby exceeding the threshold of 600, the ''Corona-Ampel'' (corona traffic light) jumped to red in the state, triggering a tightening of pandemic restrictions. It had been green just days earlier. With immediate effect, access to gyms and sports facilities, as well as museums and cultural facilities, was reduced from that under the 3G rule, covering the fully vaccinated, the recovered, or those who had recently tested negative, to the 2G rule, which excluded the third mentioned group. Only to those under the age of 12, for which age group no COVID-19 vaccine had been approved, would the 3G rule still applied, as well as to discretionary cases on medical grounds. Restaurants, hairdressers, universities and libraries were to continue to apply the 3G rule.
Berlin
The first case detected in the capital, Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, was reported on 2 March 2020. On 17 March, the government of Berlin announced plans to open a 1,000-bed hospital for COVID-19 patients on the grounds of Messe Berlin
Messe Berlin (') are exhibition grounds in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf precinct of Berlin, Germany, at Masurenallee opposite the Haus des Rundfunks. Since 2011, they have officially been known as "Berlin ExpoCenter City" and operated by the M ...
in the Westend locality of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf () is the fourth borough of Berlin, formed in an administrative reform with effect from 1 January 2001, by merging the former boroughs of Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf.
Overview
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf covers the w ...
. The hospital opened on 11 May 2020.
On November 15, 2021, Berlin banned unvaccinated citizens from restaurants, bars, cinemas and other entertainment venues, and now require them to present a negative COVID test to travel by bus or train. The measures have been implemented due to the largest increase in case counts to date.
In January 2022, a spokesman of the Berlin government told Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
that public services including transportation, police and child care were reshuffling operations to cope with an increasing number of staff in quarantine.
Hamburg
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
's first case, a male paediatric member of staff at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
The University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (german: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)) is the teaching hospital of the University of Hamburg and the largest hospital in Hamburg, Germany.
The UKE has 1,738 beds and 121 day-care p ...
, was confirmed on 27 February. , there are 196 active cases.
Hesse
On 28 February, Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
officials confirmed three new cases in Lahn-Dill
Lahn-Dill is an electoral constituency (German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 172. It is located i ...
, Hochtaunuskreis
The Hochtaunuskreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the middle of Hesse, Germany and is part of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Neighbouring districts are Lahn-Dill, Wetteraukreis, district-free Frankfurt, Main-Taunus, Rheingau-Taunus ...
and Giessen
Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univer ...
. The cases in Lahn-Dill and Giessen were linked to the cluster in NRW, and the case in Hochtaunuskreis to the one in Lahn-Dill.
After the ease of lockdown for religious groups on 1 May,["Gottesdienst-Besucher sangen und trugen keine Schutzmasken"](_blank)
hessenschau.de, 28 April 2020 a church service on 10 May in Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
led to a cluster that grew to 112 cases by 25 May. The service was later determined to have breached several regulations, including those that the major churches had given themselves. The church evaded penalties through participation in a study by the RKI, whose scientists had expressed great interest in studying the outbreak in detail. All of the infected had recovered by 24 June.
Lower Saxony
On 1 March 2020, Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
reported its first case. After the ease of lockdown in early May 2020 about 40 people met on 15 May for a private party in a restaurant in Moormerland. By 24 May at least 10 of the participants had tested positive and quarantine was ordered for 70 people.
On 31 May 2020, a new cluster with 36 confirmed infections was reported in Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911.
General information
The ori ...
. The local authorities checked Hookah lounge
A hookah lounge (also called a shisha bar or den, especially in Britain and parts of Canada, or a hookah bar) is an establishment where patrons share shisha (flavoured tobacco) from a communal hookah or from one placed at each table or a bar.
...
s to find the source of the infections. Mayor Rolf-Georg Köhler informed the public on 2 June that the cluster originated in Eid al-Fitr celebrations by several families on 23 May where social distancing rules had been ignored. On 4 June 2020, the city reported 86 infections from the cluster and some 216 people had been ordered in quarantine. All schools were closed again and all contact and team sports were prohibited for 2 weeks.
North Rhine-Westphalia
On 25 February, a 47-year-old man tested positive in Erkelenz
Erkelenz (, li, Erkelens ) is a town in the Rhineland in western Germany that lies southwest of Mönchengladbach on the northern edge of the Cologne Lowland, halfway between the Lower Rhine region and the Lower Meuse. It is a medium-sized town ...
, Heinsberg
Heinsberg (; li, Hinsberg ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the seat of the district Heinsberg. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Wurm, approx. 20 km north-east of Sittard and 30 km ...
at North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
. He had been previously treated at University Hospital of Cologne on 13 and 19 February for a pre-existing medical condition. 41 medical staff members and patients were identified to have had contact with him at the hospital; one person from medical staff showed symptoms and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
On 26 February, the man's wife, a kindergarten teacher, tested positive; both were isolated at University Hospital of Düsseldorf. His colleague and her partner also tested positive.
On 27 February, Heinsberg confirmed fourteen new cases: nine from Gangelt
Gangelt is a municipality in the district of Heinsberg, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on the border with the Netherlands and about 10 km east of Sittard and 10 km south-west of Heinsberg.
Its most well-known resident was c ...
, two from Selfkant
Selfkant (; nl, Selfkant or ''Zelfkant'' ; Limburgish: ) is a municipality in the Heinsberg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the most westerly municipality in Germany.
Geography
Isenbruch in Selfkant is the most westerly po ...
, one from the city of Heinsberg, one from Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
and one from Herzogenrath
Herzogenrath ( Ripuarian: ; li, Hertseraoj; nl, ’s-Hertogenrade) is a municipality in the district of Aachen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It borders the Dutch town of Kerkrade, the national border in one section running alon ...
. Multiple cases were linked to the Gangelter Carnival. All of them were placed in home isolation. This brought the current total to twenty in the district. A medical doctor in Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border.
Geography Municipal subdivisions
Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...
tested positive and was quarantined at home. He had attended the same carnival event in Gangelt.
On 28 February, Aachen confirmed the first COVID-19 case in the region, a woman from Herzogenrath ( Aachen district), who had attended the carnival event in Gangelt on 15 February and underwent home isolation. Heinsberg confirmed 17 new cases, bringing the current total to 37 cases in the district.
On 29 February, the number of confirmed cases in Heinsberg rose to sixty. Additionally, one case was confirmed in Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
, three more in the Aachen district (one in Aachen and two in Würselen
Würselen (, Ripuarian: ) is a town in the borough of Aachen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Würselen lies north of the city of Aachen in the immediate vicinity of the tripoint of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Its neigh ...
), and one in Lüdenscheid
Lüdenscheid () is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Sauerland region.
Geography
Lüdenscheid is located on the saddle of the watershed between the Lenne and Volme rivers which ...
. Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
, Mönchengladbach and Duisburg
Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in No ...
also each reported two cases. The first cases in Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...
were confirmed.
On 1 March, cases in Heinsberg rose to 68. A case was confirmed in Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
The Rheinisch-Bergische Kreis is a Kreis (district) in the Cologne Bonn Region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Kreis Mettman, Oberbergischer Kreis and Rhein-Sieg, and the district-free cities Cologne, Leverkusen, S ...
, affecting a woman from Overath
Overath (; ) is a town in the Rheinisch-Bergischer district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Overath is located about 25 km east of Cologne, in the Bergisches Land. Despite the reclassification as a 'Stadt' (town, though the ...
.
On 2 March, the number of positive cases in Heinsberg increased to 79. The Unna district reported its first case, a 61-year-old woman.
On 3 March, cases in Heinsberg rose to 84. Two more cases were confirmed in Münster. The first case was confirmed in Neuss
Neuss (; spelled ''Neuß'' until 1968; li, Nüss ; la, Novaesium) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It ...
.
On 4 March, the first case in Bochum was confirmed when a 68-year-old man returning from holiday in Italy tested positive.
On 5 March 195 cases were confirmed by laboratory test in Heinsberg. The local authorities announced that all schools, kindergartens, daycare facilities and interdisciplinary early intervention centres would remain closed until at least 15 March 2020. Six people tested positive in Münster, of which four were pupils and one a child in a day care centre. The school and the day care centre were closed as a precaution.
On 6 March, confirmed cases in Heinsberg rose to 220. A mobile medical care unit was deployed in Gangelt-Birgden. Bochum's second case was confirmed, after the wife of the city's first confirmed case also tested positive.
On 7 March, three cases were confirmed in Remscheid
Remscheid () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is, after Wuppertal and Solingen, the third-largest municipality in Bergisches Land, being located on the northern edge of the region, on the south side of the Ruhr area.
Remscheid h ...
and one in Wermelskirchen
Wermelskirchen (; Ripuarian: ''Wärmelßkirrshe'') is a town in the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, southeast of Remscheid. It is home to one of Europe's biggest live Christmas trees (measuring 26m).
Coat of arms
...
. Bochum reported its third case, a 58-year-old man from Weitmar who had returned from a holiday in Italy.
On 8 March, the count of cases in the state rose to 484. Of these, 277 were in Heinsberg. Bochum recorded its fourth case after a woman tested positive after returning from a holiday in South Tyrol
it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol
, settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province
, image_skyline = ...
, Italy. She went into quarantine at home. A 44-year-old Münster resident tested positive and underwent quarantine with his family. Düsseldorf confirmed its fourth case, a man who had contact with individuals in Heinsberg. All cases in Düsseldorf were reported to be asymptomatic, or with mild symptoms. There were six new infections in Erkrath
Erkrath () is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Erkrath is situated on the river Düssel, directly east of Düsseldorf and west of Wuppertal, close to the famous Neandertal. It has two stations, E ...
, Mettmann district. An additional three people were infected with the virus in Bergkamen
Bergkamen (; Westphalian: ''Biärgkoamen'') is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated south of the river Lippe, approx. north-east of Dortmund and south-west of Hamm.
Bergkamen, a fairly new town in ...
, Unna district. They are believed to have come into contact with an infected person during a visit to Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
.
On 9 March, the first COVID-19 deaths in Germany, an 89-year-old woman in Essen and a 78-year-old man in Heinsberg, were reported.
By the evening of 10 March, the count of cases in the state rose to 648. All mass events in North Rhine-Westphalia with more than 1000 participants were banned with immediate effect.
On 11 March, the number of positive cases in North Rhine-Westphalia increased to 801, including three deaths.
On 13 March, all schools and kindergartens were closed by the government of North Rhine-Westphalia.
In September, the city of Hamm became a hotspot after the obligation to wear masks and to keep distance had been ignored at three events with some 500 guests surrounding a Turkish wedding in early September. By 24 September, some 179 individuals from that wedding were described as "acute infected" by the local government. The number of infections per 100,000 citizens rose to 100 and new restrictions were introduced: Masks would have to be worn in schools for upper secondary education, events with more than 25 people would have to file an application and with 50 up to 150 participants, a concept for infection prevention would be required. On 6 October some 300 infected were linked to the wedding.
In October, the city of Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
presented its #diesmalnicht (English: #notthistime) campaign discouraging gatherings, parades and similar hazardous behaviour for the commencement of the Cologne Carnival
The Cologne Carnival (german: Kölner Karneval) is a carnival that takes place every year in Cologne, Germany.
Traditionally, the "fifth season" (carnival season) is declared open at 11 minutes past 11 on the 11th of the 11th month November. Th ...
at 11:11 a.m. on 11 November 2020. Mayor of Cologne Henriette Reker
Henriette Reker (born 9 December 1956) is a German lawyer and independent politician. She is known for her pro-immigration stance and for being the victim of an assassination attempt in 2015. A day after the attack, Reker was elected mayor of C ...
announced that there would be a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol outside of restaurants and pubs on 11 November 2020, with many establishments voluntarily remaining closed or not selling alcohol on that date.
Rhineland-Palatinate
On 26 February, a 41-year-old soldier who worked in Cologne-Wahn military airport and had attended a carnival event in Gangelt
Gangelt is a municipality in the district of Heinsberg, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on the border with the Netherlands and about 10 km east of Sittard and 10 km south-west of Heinsberg.
Its most well-known resident was c ...
with the 47-year-old patient from North Rhine-Westphalia was admitted to Bundeswehr Central Hospital, Koblenz, the first case in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
.
On 27 February, a 32-year-old man from Kaiserslautern, who had been in Iran, tested positive and was admitted to Westpfalz-Klinikum.
On 4 March, a woman and a child from Wachenheim
Wachenheim an der Weinstraße (formerly called ''Wachenheim im Speyergau'') is a small town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, roughly 1 km south of Bad Dürkheim and 20 km west of Ludwigshafen. It is known ...
tested positive and were quarantined.
Saxony-Anhalt
On 10 March 2020, Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...
reported eight confirmed cases of COVID-19, making it the last federal state to be affected by the disease. As of 26 March, the subdivisions of Jessen and Schweinitz in the municipality of Jessen (Elster)
Jessen () is a municipality on the Black Elster river and lies in the eastern part of Saxony-Anhalt in the district of Wittenberg.
Geography
Jessen is an amalgamated municipality, and has the following 44 subdivisions (''Ortsteile''): are under quarantine, with no one apart from emergency workers allowed in or out. The cause is reported to be an increased number of COVID-19 infections in a retirement home
A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple in ...
there.
Other
In late March 2020, a group of patients from Lombardy in Italy and the border region of Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
in France were treated in Germany.
Repatriated German citizens
On 1 February 2020, around 90 German citizens left Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...
on a flight arranged by the German government. Upon arrival, they were quarantined in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
for 14 days.
On 2 February, two of the arrivals from China tested positive and were moved from the quarantine location in Germersheim
Germersheim () is a town in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, of around 20,000 inhabitants. It is also the seat of the Germersheim district. The neighboring towns and cities are Speyer, Landau, Philippsburg, Karlsruhe and Wörth.
Coat ...
to an isolation unit at the University Hospital Frankfurt.
Virus variants
The first case of what was later named the Alpha variant
The Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) was a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. It was estimated to be 40–80% more transmissible than the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 (with most estimates occupying the middle to higher end of this range). It was first detecte ...
was confirmed by authorities on 24 December 2020. It was detected in a woman who had been travelling by plane from London to Frankfurt.
On 21 January 2021, an analysis by the Berlin Charité hospital of a coronavirus sample from a patient in a recent outbreak in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was published. The report said that, contrary to initial concerns, the sample did not show a new mutation, but rather a variant of the virus that had first been detected in March 2020. Up to the time of the report, 66 patients and staff at a hospital in Germisch-Partenkirchen had tested positive for that variant.
The first case in Germany of the Beta variant
The Beta variant, (B.1.351), was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. One of several SARS-CoV-2 variants initially believed to be of particular importance, it was first detected in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan are ...
was confirmed by authorities on 22 January 2021 in a traveller who had arrived at Frankfurt airport from Brazil one day earlier. He showed no symptoms. Also on 22 January, the total death toll in Germany crossed the 50,000 mark, according to the Robert Koch Institute.
On 24 April 2021, Germany banned flights from India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
with effect from 26 April, due to concern about the Delta variant
The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in India in late 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 2021. The ...
that had emerged in that country and was suspected to be responsible for the steep rise in COVID-19 cases there. Germans and foreigners with German residence permit, among others, would be exempt upon presentation of a negative test result before entry; a 14-day mandatory quarantine would still be required. As of 23 April, there were 21 cases of infections with the variant reported in Germany.
On 7 July 2021, the RKI announced that, based on data from 21 to 27 June, the Delta variant
The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in India in late 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 2021. The ...
had become the dominant strain, making up 59 per cent of newly reported infections within that week.
By late November 2021, several cases of the Omicron variant
Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...
had been reported in Germany.
After their emergence, the Alpha, Delta and Omicron variants successively went on to become the dominant strain of the coronavirus in the country.
Government response
Vaccination
On 9 November 2020, the German vaccination commission STIKO, an independent advisory group which is part of the RKI, published a position paper jointly with the German Ethics Council and the Leopoldina Academy of Sciences on how access to a future COVID-19 vaccine should be regulated, given that sufficient quantities of such a vaccine would not immediately be available to everybody willing to undergo vaccination. The document highlighted the need to comply with medical, legal and ethical principles, and urged for the prioritisation scheme to be made transparent to the public.
On 18 December, Health Minister Jens Spahn
Jens Georg Spahn (born 16 May 1980) is a German politician who served as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he has bee ...
unveiled the government vaccination plan at a press conference. He warned that "we will have to live with this virus for a long time yet." The plan deviated from a STIKO proposal published the previous day in that it subdivided the population into three groups, instead of five as proposed by STIKO; and it allowed for priorisation within each of the groups, which Spahn defended against criticism from general practitioners and police as "allow nga certain flexibility on the ground".
The first 9,750 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were delivered to Germany's 16 states on 26 December. The state of Saxony-Anhalt started vaccinations the same day, one day before the official start. The first to receive the vaccine were German residents over the age of 80, as well as caregivers and hospital staff who were considered to be at particular risk.
A first batch of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine
The Moderna COVID19 vaccine ( INN: elasomeran), sold under the brand name Spikevax, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by American company Moderna, the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Biomed ...
, of about 63,000 doses, arrived in Lower Saxony on 11 January 2021.
By early January 2021, criticism was mounting over the slow progress of the vaccination program. The government tasked the RKI with investigating if, as in other countries, the second jab could be postponed in order to use available doses for more people. On 8 January, the German Health Ministry announced that regulators of the European Medicines Agency had approved the extraction of six, instead of five, doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from each vial, and that this practice would be immediately adopted in Germany.
Production issues hampered the rollout of vaccines in the European Union and consequently also in Germany, as the country had ordered its vaccines through the bloc. On 22 January, it transpired that AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...
would, after the expected approval of its vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. by the European Union on 29 January, only be able to deliver 31 million doses, instead of the agreed 80 million doses. There were also difficulties reported with the delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. AstraZeneca said on 31 January that it would supply 9 million additional doses during the first quarter, while BioNTech said that its new production plant in Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
would allow them to increase their supply to the European Union from the initially planned 1.3 billion to 2 billion.
On 3 February, Spahn said that he expected that citizens would be able to choose between the three EU-approved vaccines in a few months. He flagged that the Russian Sputnik V vaccine could be produced in Germany. Spahn had said in late January that Germany would be open to the adoption of vaccines from Russia and China after EU approval, provided that they were safe and effective.
By 10 February, the number of second vaccinations – two vaccinations being necessary for each of the three vaccines approved as of that date – had risen to above 1.1 million, comprising about 1.32 per cent of the population. Difficulties with vaccine delivery had prompted authorities to retain vaccines for use in the second vaccination and consequently, a decrease in the daily number of first vaccinations.
On 11 March, the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine
The Janssen COVID19 vaccine, sold under the brand name Jcovden, is a COVID19 vaccine that was developed by Janssen Vaccines in Leiden, Netherlands, and its Belgian parent company Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of American company John ...
was permitted for use in Germany as part of an EU permit.
By 15 March, 6,507,159 people have been given the first dose of the vaccine.
On 15 March, Germany temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine "as a precaution" according to the Health Ministry, with Health Minister Spahn saying that the risk of blood clots developing after administration of the vaccine was low but could not be ruled out. While the German Medical Association The German Medical Association (GMA) (german: Bundesärztekammer, BÄK), founded in 1947 and based in Berlin, is the co-ordinating body of physicians’ self-regulation in Germany. It co-ordinates the activities of the 17 State Chambers of Physician ...
supported the decision, others including epidemiologist Karl Lauterbach criticised it. Vaccinations with AstraZeneca resumed on 19 March after the European Medicines Agency deemed the vaccine "safe and effective".
On 30 March, on recommendations of Germany's vaccine panel, the use of AstraZeneca was restricted to patients 60 and older, except for patients for whom a COVID-19 infection was expected to pose a high risk, and who additionally had agreed to take the vaccine despite the small risk of serious side effects. The Vaccination Commission revised this on 22 April to allow for use in younger ages, subject to their consent to medical advice about the risks.
On 8 April, Spahn said that as the European Commission was not intending to buy the Sputnik V vaccine for the entire bloc, Germany would enter exclusive negotiations with Russia, in spite of an agreement of the bloc in early 2021 to shun exclusive negotiations with suppliers. Any purchases would be subject to approval from the European Medicines Agency.
On 6 May, the AstraZeneca vaccine was made available to all adults. Previously the vaccination campaign had considerably gained speed. On 10 May, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was likewise made generally available. As with the AstraZeneca vaccine, a prior consultation about the risks was mandated for under 60-year olds.
Rüdiger von Kries, a member of the vaccination commission STIKO, said on 25 May that, as "practically nothing" was known about long-term adverse effects of vaccinations on 12- to 15-year-old children and adolescents, STIKO would likely recommend them only for children with other risk factors. On 10 June, STIKO made such a limited recommendation, while also saying that healthy teenagers may also be vaccinated with the consent of themselves, their parents, and doctors. In explaining the recommendation, which was more restrictive than that at EU level, STIKO head Thomas Mertens cited the concerns of von Kries, adding that very children fell ill with COVID-19 as opposed to older people. In the light of new safety data from the United States and new research on the infection risk for children and adolescents in the age range from 12 to 17 years, STIKO updated its guidance on 16 August to include a recommendation for vaccination for that age range.
A digital vaccination pass was rolled out on 10 June. Health Minister Spahn announced that day that the pass was expected to be available to everyone in Germany who is fully vaccinated, by the end of June; and that it was planned to make it an acceptable proof of vaccination status also in other countries.
On 5 August, it was reported that Germany, along with France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, would give booster dose
A booster dose is an extra administration of a vaccine after an earlier (primer) dose. After initial immunization, a booster provides a re-exposure to the immunizing antigen. It is intended to increase immunity against that antigen back to protec ...
s to immunocompromised patients, the very elderly and nursing home residents from September. In response to recent criticism from WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ( ti, ቴዎድሮስ አድሓኖም ገብረኢየሱስ, sometimes spelt ti, ቴድሮስ ኣድሓኖም ገብረየሱስ, label=none; born 3 March 1965) is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, and ...
to halt boosters until at least the end of September due to global inequity in vaccine supply, the German health ministry said that it would donate at least 30 million vaccine doses to poorer countries and "support the vaccination of as many people in the world as possible".
A study by the Robert Koch Institute published on 9 August found that vaccinations had prevented an estimated 38,000 deaths from COVID-19, as well as prevented over 76,000 hospitalizations and almost 20,000 admissions to intensive care units. The study used data from the preceding six and a half months, from the approximate beginning of the third wave of the pandemic.
Health minister Spahn said on 22 September that unvaccinated workers who were forced to quarantine after returning from travels to high-risk areas would no longer receive governmental subsidies for lost income from 11 October at latest. He argued that the taxpayer could not be expected to pay for the costs incurred by those who were able to choose to get vaccinated but did not do so.
On 5 November, against the background of rapidly rising case numbers in the fourth wave of the pandemic, Health Minister Spahn said that he had agreed with state ministers to offer a third dose of the vaccine to everyone six months after their previous injection.
On 10 November, national advisory committee STIKO revised its recommendations, saying that those under 30 should only receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as the Moderna vaccine had shown a larger incidence of heart inflammation in that age group. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was also recommended as the only vaccine for pregnant women of all ages.
With the number of COVID-19 deaths passing the 100,000 mark on 25 November and the health care system being under strain from the increasing number of cases, there were increasing calls for making vaccination mandatory. Among the supporters of this step were also the state leaders Volker Bouffier
Volker Bouffier (born 18 December 1951) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister President of the German state of Hessen from 31 August 2010 to 31 May 2022. From 1 November 2014 until 31 October 2015 ...
and Winfried Kretschmann
Winfried Kretschmann (born 17 May 1948) is a German politician serving as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since 2011. A member of the Alliance '90/Greens, he was President of the Bundesrat and ''ex officio'' deputy to the President of ...
, and Berlin mayor Michael Müller.
Therapy
On 25 January 2021, the Health Ministry announced that Germany had bought 200,000 doses of experimental antibody cocktails for €400 million, to be administered at university hospitals only, and to be used only on high-risk patients at an early stage of the illness. The drugs, Bamlanivimab and REGN-COV-2, had been used on US President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
after he caught the virus in October 2020. The use of the drugs, which had not received approval by the European Medicines Agency, was permitted under a compassionate use clause.
On 28 December 2021, the German government announced that it had ordered one million doses of Paxlovid. Health minister Lauterbach said he had liaised with the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices about emergency approval for the drug, which he expected to be granted in time for the first deliveries before the end of January 2022. Wholesale marketers started to receive the drug on 23 February. Its uptake appeared to be quite slow in the first months, however, with one German newspaper reporting that by April it had been prescribed less than 9,000 times. In a tweet on 21 May 2022, health minister Lauterbach expressed his satisfaction about new research results indicating the high efficacy of the drug, but said that more preparation was still needed to determine its "optimal use".
Impact
Economy
Germany officially entered a recession given that its economy contracted 2.2% during the first quarter of 2020.
As of 1 April 2020, almost half a million companies in Germany had sent their workers on a government-subsidized short-time working scheme known as Kurzarbeit. The German short-time work compensation scheme is similar to schemes in France and Britain.
On 8 April, Germany reverted a travel ban for seasonal agricultural workers, allowing 80,000 Eastern Europeans to enter between April and May to harvest seasonal foods.
In a press release from 29 April, the Federal Government predicted that gross domestic product to decline by 6.3 per cent in 2020,
with the sharpest drop in economic output, and the peak in Kurzarbeit short-time working, occurring in the second quarter.
On 22 May, in an article published in the '' Süddeutsche Zeitung'', the German Council of Economic Experts
The German Council of Economic Experts (German: ') is a group of economists set up in 1963 to evaluate economic policies of the German government. In the media, the council is often referred to as the "Five Sages of Economy" (''Fünf Wirtschaftswe ...
stated its views on the design of the planned coronavirus recovery package. In particular, it weighed in on the debate about whether the recovery package should include a higher cash incentive for buying electric cars, a plan which the Merkel government had favoured. The Council recommended against any sector specific aid measures, and advocated focusing on investments in education and infrastructure, lowering the cost of energy, and allowing companies to balance losses with gains from previous and expected gains for future years.
On 3 June, the Bundesagentur für Arbeit
The Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency, BA) is a German federal agency in the area of responsibility of the Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs and has its headquarters in Nuremberg. Its current director is Andrea Na ...
(BA) announced that the jobless figure in Germany had risen in May to 2.813 million, a year-on-year increase of 577,000, bringing the unemployment rate to 6.1 per cent. In his analysis, BA director Detlef Scheele
Detlef Scheele (born 30 September 1956) is a German politician ( SPD). On 1 April 2017, he became chairman of the German Federal Employment Agency.
Early life
Scheele was born in Hamburg. After graduating from the Gymnasium Bahrenfeld high schoo ...
stated that even though the coronavirus crisis had hit the labour market with unprecedented severity, it was coping reasonably well in his opinion.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, exports dropped in April by 31 per cent compared to the previous year, which was unprecedented since 1950, when trade balance statistics began to be collected.
In late August 2020, the Federal Statistical Office reported a decrease in gross domestic product of 9.7% in the second quarter of 2020 as compared to the first. This was attributed to the collapse in exports as well as health protection measures during the pandemic; the latter had shut down whole industries such as those related to conferences and concerts. Economists expected a rebounding of the economy in the third quarter due to the easing of coronavirus related restrictions, but saw the possibility of a second wave of infections hanging as a threat over those predictions.
Based on preliminary calculations, the Federal Statistical Office reported on 14 January 2021 that the gross domestic product had shrunk by 5.0 per cent in 2020 as compared to the previous year. While price-adjusted private consumption had shrunk by a record 6.0 per cent, this had been partly offset by a government consumption increase of 3.4 per cent, in which the purchase of protective equipment and hospital costs had played a role. For the first time since 2011, Germany recorded a budget deficit, which at 4.8 per cent was second only to that of 1995, when the debts of the Treuhand
The ("Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/ privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification. C ...
were transferred to the federal budget.
On 26 March, the Federal Constitutional Court
The Federal Constitutional Court (german: link=no, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its in ...
stopped a German law for the roll-out of an aid package totalling €750 billion that had been agreed by the European Council in summer 2020. The legal challenge had been mounted by Bernd Lucke
Bernd Lucke (born 19 August 1962) is a German economist and politician. Lucke was elected a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in 2014. He failed to win reelection in 2019.
He is a professor of ec ...
and others, who rejected the repayment of debts in the name of all EU countries jointly. The European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
expressed optimism that the package could still be rolled out from the end of June 2021 as planned. On 24 April, the court rejected the legal challenge. The main court proceedings were still pending.
According to a study by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research whose results were published on 20 April 2021, private consumption had dropped in 2020 by 6.1 per cent, the largest amount in 70 years, translating to €1,250 per capita. The drop was ascribed to an increased savings ratio and lower incomes during the pandemic.
Introduction of mask requirements
On 31 March, city-county Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...
, Thuringia, was the first large German city to introduce an obligation to wear masks, or makeshift masks including scarves, in supermarkets, public transport, and buildings with public traffic, from 6 April, very successfully. On 2 April, the Robert Koch Institute
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is a German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention. It is located in Berlin and Wernigerode. As an upper federal agency, it is subordinate to the Federa ...
, the federal epidemic authority, changed its previous recommendation that only people with symptoms should wear masks to also include people without symptoms. The district of Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to:
* Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany
** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district
**Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city
* Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen)
* Narost ...
, Thuringia, followed the example of Jena, with effect from 14 April, the city of Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
on 22 April.
German chancellor Merkel and state governors first gave "strong advice" to wear face masks in public starting 20 April. Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
made it mandatory from that day, Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...
followed starting 23 April and (the rest of) Thurinigia starting 24 April, then finally the governors agreed to make it mandatory, so most other states followed starting 27 April, except Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
, which introduced requirements starting 29 April, and Berlin, where shops were initially excluded but were then included starting 29 April.
As of 24 April, most German states had no penalties for not wearing a mask. However, not wearing masks in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania can result in a €25 fine, in Hesse a €50 fine, and in Bavaria, not wearing a face mask while on public transportation or in a shop can result in a €150 fine for first-time offenders. There are exceptions for mask wearing for young children, severely disabled persons, or with those with respiratory diseases such as asthma
Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...
.
Mask shortage and controversies
In March 2020, car manufacturers announced donations of several hundred thousand masks to hospitals, and health authorities. Daimler donated 110,000 masks of their pandemic protection reserve and BMW donated 100,000 breathing masks. Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
announced a donation of 200,000 masks of FFP-2 and FFP-3 types and were looking into manufacturing medical equipment parts. On 8 April, the CEO of BMW, Oliver Zipse
Oliver Zipse (born 7 February 1964) is a German manager who has been serving as Chairman of the Board of Management ( CEO) of BMW since 16 August 2019.
Early life and education
Zipse graduated from high school in Bensheim in 1983. He studied c ...
, announced the production of FFP-2 masks both for the general public and for its workers with a target of hundred of thousands of masks each day, together with the donation to Bavaria of two million simpler masks within the following two weeks.
On 28 March, more than three million protective masks bought by Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
arrived at Frankfurt airport from Shanghai. They were the first shipment of a larger donation of medical equipment worth 40 million euros which were brought to hospitals and federal agencies in Hesse and Lower Saxony.
On 30 March, Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
donated surgical masks that they had acquired during the SARS epidemic
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, ''sev ...
.
In April, a German company placed an online order for 10 million masks, valued at €15 million, to a fraudulently cloned website of a Dutch supply company. Irish Garda Síochána and Dutch authorities recovered €880,000 from a Dutch account and €498,000 from a Nigerian account, both tied to the scam.
On 3 April, Berlin's Senator of the Interior Andreas Geisel accused the United States agents of appropriating a shipment of 200,000 3M-made face masks meant for Berlin police from the airport in Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
. Andreas Geisel considered it an "act of modern piracy", SPD acting chairman Rolf Mützenich
Rolf Heinrich Mützenich (born 25 June 1959) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has been serving as chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag since June 2019.
Early life and education
Mütz ...
asked for an investigation and a response from the government, and Berlin mayor Michael Müller blamed Trump for it and called it "inhuman and unacceptable". However, these claims were rejected by 3M officials, who stated that they have "no records of an order for respiratory masks from China for the Berlin police" and Berlin police later admitted the shipment was not seized by U.S. authorities, but was believed to have been bought at a better price, possibly by a German merchant or China. As a result, Berlin opposition member Burkard Dregger accused the Berlin senate of deception for the purpose of covering up their failure to provide the masks. ''Politico Europe
''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...
'' reported that "the Berliners are taking a page straight out of the Trump playbook and not letting facts get in the way of a good story."
German officials reported that U.S. buyers were paying far above the market price and were outbidding European buyers for masks.
In early March 2021, members of the German parliament Nikolas Löbel and Georg Nüßlein
Georg Nüßlein (born 10 April 1969) is a German politician who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Bavaria from 2002 until 2021. From 1987 until 2021, he was a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU). He left the party in t ...
resigned from the ruling CDU/CSU
CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties (german: Unionsparteien, ) or the Union, is a centre-right Christian-democratic political alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Soc ...
party over a scandal that had broken about them having allegedly earned six-figure sums from brokering sales contracts for face masks. Löbel also resigned from the parliament. Later , a lawmaker in the Bavarian state parliament, was embroiled in the same scandal and resigned from the CSU. The scandal (which came to be known as , "mask affair" in Germany) led to a public discussion on transparency and ethics for such dealings. In response to the scandal, the CDU/CSU party tightened its pertaining rules. The previous day, it had performed poorly at two state elections, which observers saw as being connected to the loss in popularity due to the scandal. In November 2021, the Oberlandesgericht
An ''Oberlandesgericht'' (plural – ''Oberlandesgerichte''; OLG, en, Higher Regional Court, or in Berlin '' Kammergericht'': KG) is a higher court in Germany.
There are 24 OLGs in Germany and they deal with civil and criminal matters. They a ...
in Munich cleared Nüßlein and Sauter of corruption accusations, arguing that the two had not acted in their parliamentary roles, but instead had made use of their authorities and contacts, to which situation the relevant corruption law did not apply. Löbel had already been cleared of the accusations in July.
Over the weekend of 5 and 6 June, German weekly '' Der Spiegel'' reported that uncertified face masks from a burst of orders in early 2020 had been considered by the Health Ministry for distribution among the homeless and those with disabilities. In a press statement on 6 June, Health Minister Spahn sharply rebuked accusations that he had intended to distribute inferior masks to vulnerable groups as "outrageous", saying that the masks in question had been thoroughly tested and fulfilled all the necessary safety requirements. Nevertheless, within less than a week, the controversy grew to be regarded as the main friction point in the ruling Grand coalition as the country was approaching the 2021 German federal election in late September. A '' Tagesschau'' analysis pointed out that there were two different standards for medical and labour products; and that it remained unclear whether the masks were actually able to reliably protect their wearer.
Consumer good shortages
On 29 February 2020, it was reported that supermarket chains, such as Aldi
Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when ...
and Lidl
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...
, had seen an increase in demand, particularly for tinned food, noodles, toilet paper (whose sales rose by 700% from February to March) and disinfectants. The Ministry of Health of North Rhine-Westphalia advised against panic buying, especially of masks, medications and disinfectants, to leave them for those really in need, assuring there would be no shortage of supply even in the event of a quarantine. A day earlier, after recent drastic price hikes and shortages especially of masks, medications and disinfectants which were the result of a steep increase in demand, calls had been made to consumers to leave these products for hospitals and medical practices.
Protests against government-imposed restrictions; anti-vaccination
Since April 2020, several protests have been held in Germany in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the initial cause for the protests were governmental measures to combat the pandemic, in particular the lockdown that had been imposed in March and the mask requirement that came into force in late April, they were also fuelled by negative sentiments regarding a future coronavirus vaccine that the German government – as others in the world – portrayed as the conclusive way out of the pandemic. The vaccination sceptics, or "anti-vaxxers", built in part on beliefs of Anthroposophic medicine
Anthroposophic medicine (or anthroposophical medicine) is a form of alternative medicine based on pseudoscientific and occult notions. Devised in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) in conjunction with Ita Wegman (1876–1943), anthroposo ...
.
As of May 2020, only a minority of the German population (an estimated 3%) completely rejected any vaccinations, and the percentage of people who responded in May they would take a COVID-19 vaccine was higher compared to the United States (63% in Germany vs 55% in the US). However, that number was down 16 per cent from the month before, where 79% were sure about getting vaccinated. German health officials and other experts have expressed concerns that the pandemic might allow Germany's anti-vaccination movement to grow its support base.
Apart from a common belief that the government measures were a strongly disproportionate diminishing of constitutional basic rights, the aims of the protesters varied widely: what was described as a "bizarre mix of people" included conspiracy theorists
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
, radical extremists
Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...
, antisemites
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
, football hooligans
Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviours perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism normally involves ...
and anti-vaxxers
Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...
as well as "hippie moms" and advocates of alternative medicine. Many protesters vented their anger at Chancellor Merkel, Health Minister Spahn and virologist Drosten. The ire of the protesters also regularly targeted Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
, who they suspected to intend to implant microchips for manipulative purposes through a future COVID-19 vaccination. Some protesters likened themselves to the persecuted in Nazi Germany, which led to strong rebukes by politicians.
Weekly rallies which became known as (hygiene demonstrations) established themselves in several cities including Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, Leipzig, Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. The in Berlin on 25 April 2020 attracted around 1,000 participants. During May, attendance at the generally decreased sharply. Observers attributed this to a variety of factors, including the relaxation of the lockdown, and a high level of satisfaction in the general population about the government's handling of the crisis. Another factor was considered to be the participation of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), and on some occasions, violent or extreme right-wing individuals sprouting conspiracy theories, including vegan chef Attila Hildmann
Attila Klaus-Peter Hildmann (born 22 April 1981) is a German vegan cookbook author and far-right conspiracy theorist. He has described himself as "ultra-right-wing" and as a German nationalist. He was repeatedly characterized as antisemitic. ...
, at rallies. Hildmann was apprehended by police in Berlin in July 2020 and charged with Volksverhetzung
, in English "incitement to hatred" (used also in the official English translation of the German Criminal Code), "incitement of popular hatred", "incitement of the masses", or "instigation of the people", is a concept in German criminal law that ...
.
A resurgence of protests occurred from mid-year as cases began to rise again and the government considered a second lockdown. The group emerged as the main force in organising protests in Stuttgart – giving rise to the name ''Querdenken 711'', after the dialling code of the city – and other cities. Two separate rallies on 29 August 2020 drew a total of around 38,000 participants, with police making around 300 arrests. The protest drew particular attention for the attempted storming of the Reichstag, which houses the German parliament, by several hundred people, some of whom were holding insignia from the Reichsbürger movement
("''Reich'' Citizens' Movement") or ("''Reich'' Citizen(s)", the German word is the same in singular and in plural) is a label for several anticonstitutional/ revisionist groups and individuals in Germany and elsewhere who reject the legitima ...
. There were increasing concerns that the rallies were becoming a platform for far-right, and even extremist, views.
After a hiatus in large protests spanning several months, a protest in Kassel on 20 March 2021 drew over 20,000 attendants; violent scuffles with police occurred that day. As the third wave of the pandemic receded between April and June 2021, protests became smaller; politologist Josef Holnburger said to broadcaster MDR that a downward trend in followership of social media channels of the ''Querdenken'' movement had been observed by him and colleagues as early as November 2020, which they related to repeated failures of setting up large street demonstrations since that time. Holnburger expressed worries about radicalization of parts of the chats he observed, however.
On 18 September 2021, a radicalized opponent of the measures to contain the pandemic fatally shot a 20-year-old student working at a gas station in Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in ...
. The student had refused to sell beer to the 49-year-old perpetrator as he was not wearing a mask. The perpetrator left the gas station, only to return some time later with a gun and shot the cashier in the head. After turning himself in to police, he stated that he "wanted to set an example". The act was condemned by broad sections of the media, politics and the population, while the increasingly radicalizing corona deniers and corona gamblers celebrated the perpetrator and the act in their areas of retreat on the Internet. Chancellor Angela Merkel called the act "heinous". The three main contenders in the federal elections on 26 September all expressed their shock at the killing. Minister for Justice Christine Lambrecht said that the country had to "counter the radicalisation of coronavirus deniers who are willing to use violence with all possible means".
Statistics
See also
* 2020 in Germany
Events in the year 2020 in Germany.
Incumbents
* President: Frank-Walter Steinmeier
* Chancellor: Angela Merkel
Events
January
* 5 January – Beginning of Volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's European qualification
* 6 J ...
* COVID-19 pandemic death rates by country
This article contains the current number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths per population by country. It also has cumulative death totals by country. For these numbers over time see the tables, graphs, and maps at COVID-19 pandemic deaths and COVID-19 ...
* COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
* COVID-19 pandemic by country and territory
This is a general overview and status of places affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The first human ...
* National responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
National responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been varied, and have included containment measures such as lockdowns, quarantines, and curfews. As of , COVID-19 pandemic cases, cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in COVID-1 ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
Christian Drosten: "Wir müssen jetzt die Fälle senken. Sonst schaffen wir es nicht" , ZEIT ONLINE
External links
*
Coronavirus in Deutschland
Real-time map with numbers from the 401 districts of Germany, and statistics for other countries
Coronavirus: Echtzeit-Karte zeigt Zahl der Infektionen in Deutschland, Europa und weltweit
– map with several statistics on the virus in Germany and worldwide
CoronaMapper
– map with various updated statistics
* Esri
Esri (; Environmental Systems Research Institute) is an American multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company. It is best known for its ArcGIS products. With a 43% market share, Esri is the world's leading supplier of GIS ...
(German)
''COVID-19 Dashboard''
(RKI-Data for States and Districts)
SurvStat@RKI 2.0
(survstat.rki.de) web page for querying diseases and pathogens reported to the RKI, including COVID-19. Output option in English.
{{COVID-19 pandemic, short=yes
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
Disease outbreaks in Germany
coronavirus pandemic in Germany
coronavirus pandemic in Germany