Germany will require negative test in bars and restaurants to those who do not have the booster dose

Faced with the rise in infections due to the variant omicron of covid-19, Germany has decided to further restrict access to bars and restaurants. On the other hand, in order to avoid a possible paralysis of the country, the quarantines, as the Chancellor announced this Friday, Olaf Scholz.

The leader, who has defended that the approved measures are “strict but pragmatic“, has adopted these decisions in the meeting that it has had with the leaders of the 16 federated states.

Thus, as of January 15, customers of restaurants, bars and cafeterias must present, in addition to the certificate of vaccination or recovery from the disease, a negative test made the same day. Persons who have already received the certificate will be exempt from this requirement. third dose. According to the Chancellor, this measure will help control infections “better than up to now.”

Shorter quarantines

On the other hand, the Berlin Government has decided to modify the periods of quarantines for patients and close contacts to prevent the country from being paralyzed in case a large number of citizens must be confined.

People with booster doses should not isolate themselves in case of contact with a sick person. Neither are those who have recently been vaccinated or have just had the disease.

For the rest, including those infected, the quarantine passes from 14 to 10 days, and may be reduced to seven if a negative PCR test is presented.

In the case of minors infected or who have had contact with an infected person, they will be able to return to school after presenting a negative PCR or antigen test on the fifth day of quarantine.

Likewise, the Government recommends “strongly” that citizens use FFP2 masks inside shops and public transport.

Ómicron advance

According to the Robert Koch Institute, a reference for infectious diseases, the omicron variant already represents 44% of coronavirus infections in the country. So far, 41.6% of citizens have received the booster dose.

Related news

The cumulative incidence has risen in Germany this Friday to 303.4 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days, compared to 285.9 yesterday, and the health authorities have registered 56,335 new infections and 264 deaths from covid in the last 24 hours .

After winning at the polls, Scholz announced his intention to promote a law to make the vaccine mandatory. However, the new standard has not yet been approved.