Berlin Jan. 7 (BUS): German leaders are set to consider restrictions and potential new changes to quarantine rules on Friday as the new omicron variant progresses rapidly.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the country’s 16 state governors are likely to build on restrictions imposed just after Christmas that limited private gatherings of 10 people, among other things, according to the Associated Press.
One measure under consideration is a tightening of the procedure that requires people to provide proof of complete vaccination or recovery to enter restaurants. They may now be asked to provide evidence of a booster injection or a new negative test.
Schulz and the governors are also expected to consider shortening quarantine or self-isolation periods that currently stand at 14 days, something many other countries have already done.
The COVID-19 situation in Germany has been hazy for the past two weeks due to incomplete tests and slow reports during the holiday period.
Official figures, which authorities acknowledged do not yet show the full picture, showed a steady increase in the infection rate over the past week.
On Friday, the National Center for Disease Control, the Robert Koch Institute, reported an official rate of 303.4 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days. In the past 24 hours, 56,335 new cases were reported.
In its weekly report on Thursday, the institute said Omicron represented 44.3% of cases tested for variants in Germany last week, up from 15.8% the previous week.
The vaccination campaign in Germany is regaining speed after the holiday. As of Thursday, 71.5% of the population had received a complete first vaccination course and 40.9% had received a booster shot.
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