german government response to the covid-19 pandemic german government response to the covid-19 pandemic the government of germany has initially responded to the covid-19 pandemic in the country with preventive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 in the country. with the nationwide spread of the disease from march 2020, preventive measures were replaced by containment measures, including a lockdown from march. on 25 march, the bundestag made the determination of an epidemic situation of national significance (de:epidemische lage von nationaler tragweite). this created a legal framework for the government of chancellor angela merkel and the heads of the 16 german states to agree on nationwide pandemic restrictions. implementation of decisions by that panel remained a matter of individual states, however, leading to differences in anti-pandemic rules and regulations across states. further information: covid-19 pandemic in germany part of a series on thecovid-19 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of fighting the pandemic were widely considered a success. this was seen by observers to have been due to a wide acceptance of the cautious course of merkel, whose televised speech on 18 march was considered highly effective. case numbers were decreasing to a degree that much of public life had returned to normal by late summer. this success was not repeated with the second wave of the pandemic, which saw daily new cases rise seven-fold over the course of october 2020 and resulted in a second lockdown from december 2020, and the third wave in the first months of 2021. besides lockdown fatigue gaining ground, the approaching 2021 german federal election saw tougher debates on pandemic responses taken by the government of merkel, including from within the ranks of her own cdu/csu party. the bundesnotbremse (federal emergency brake) from april to june 2021 included provisions to automatically impose curfews and school closures in states and districts if incidences exceeded certain thresholds. one of its principal objectives was to reduce the confusion that had arisen due to differing anti-pandemic measures across states. the accelerating vaccination campaign was credited with overcoming the third wave. the fourth wave of the pandemic from august 2021 led to record case numbers by november, while the severe cases and deaths among adults were far lower in the previous waves due to the vaccinations. before the formation of the scholz cabinet in early december, observers saw anti-pandemic decision making as being hampered by the nature of the caretaker government of merkel, while also saying that the government had since much earlier been overly hesitant to impose tough, unpopular decisions. with expiry of the epidemic situation of national significance in november 2021 a catalogue of measures was rolled out, including restrictions tied to the hospitalization rate. a partial vaccine mandate for health workers took effect in mid-march 2022. booster shots were a central part of the government strategy against the omicron variant, which was driving the fifth and sixth waves of the pandemic. a proposal for a vaccine mandate for all aged 60 and over was rejected in the bundestag on 7 april, in what was seen by observers as a major setback for the government. many coronavirus measures faced legal challenges from individuals. in november 2021, the federal constitutional court rejected a challenge against the bundesnotbremse in which several members of the fdp (free democrats) party had participated. the far-right populist afd party also challenged several measures. advisory bodies during the pandemic, the german government received advice from several scientific bodies. they also collaborated on occasion: following a request by health minister jens spahn, the standing committee on vaccination (stiko) at the robert koch institute, the german national academy of sciences leopoldina, and the german ethics council produced recommendations on 9 november 2020 with criteria for how to prioritize the distribution of covid-19 vaccines. other organizations and bodies besides the ones listed below have provided pandemic advisories for the government. the helmholtz association issued a statement on the pandemic in april 2020. robert koch institute on 27 february 2020, lothar wieler, president of the robert koch institute (rki), announced that there would be daily press briefings on the development of the spread of covid-19 in the country. wieler considered the situation still under control, although he considered it possible that this may change with a future outbreak. the rki has issued daily situation reports on the pandemic, including the number of newly reported cases and overall assessments. it also regularly publishes risk assessments, which are based on infectiousness; severity of the disease and incidence of long-term issues; and the burden on the health care systems. information on all three criteria is sourced from germany as well as abroad. on 2 march 2020, the rki increased its risk assessment category slightly from "small to moderate" to "moderate", on 17 march 2020 to "high", and on 26 march 2020 to "very high" for risk groups. as of october 2022, the risk assessment level for the overall population is "high", which was set on 6 may 2022. this was a downgrade from "very high" that had been set on 20 december 2021. on 21 december 2021, the rki revised its recommended waiting period for a booster shot from six down to three months. on 15 january 2022, the rki shortened the duration of validity of certificates of recovery from a coronavirus infection, giving access under the 2g rules, from six to three months. health minister lauterbach had not ordered the measure, nor been informed of it in advance, but supported it. several politicians called for the shortening to be retracted in view of the confusion it would create, given that germany had supported an eu-wide adherence to a six-month validity. some also sharply criticized that the bundestag parliament would continue to operate under the six-month rule. in early february, a government spokesperson confirmed that rki president wieler, who had faced severe criticism from bijan djir-sarai of the co-governing free democrats, still had the trust of the government, while two alliance 90/the greens members spoke in his support. as part of the rki, the vaccination commission stiko has issued recommendations on covid-19 vaccines from late 2020, when vaccines first became available. in the first week of july 2021, a number of prominent politicians urged for stiko to reassess its recommendation regarding the vaccinations for children and youths aged 12 to 17 years, and to have that age group issued with a general vaccination recommendation. besides health minister jens spahn, the supporters included bavarian premier markus söder, lower saxony premier stephan weil, co-leader of the social democratic party saskia esken and epidemiologist karl lauterbach. stiko criticized this as interference by politics, with member rüdiger von kries saying that this was rather "election battle and a distraction from the absence of an own concept". several politicians defended the stance of stiko. german national academy of sciences the statements by leopoldina (main building in halle pictured) had a substantial impact on anti-pandemic measures. between march 2020 and november 2021, the german national academy of sciences leopoldina published ten ad hoc statements which addressed the impact of the pandemic from a multidisciplinary perspective. the statement published on 13 april 2020, which described steps for the reopening as the first wave of the pandemic began to ease, was described by chancellor angela merkel already before its release as "very important" for the further course to be taken by the government with regard to the pandemic. german ethics council between march 2020 and december 2021, the german ethics council published six ad hoc recommendations on the pandemic. in the sixth one published on 22 december 2021, a narrow majority, 13 out of 24, of council members supported expanding the vaccine mandate to all adults in germany aged 18 and over. in the 160-page recommendation presented on 4 april 2022, the council admonished that in the preceding two years of the pandemic, vulnerable groups had not been sufficiently in the focus of government efforts, and that especially institutions such as local health departments, nursing homes, and schools had been insufficiently prepared for a pandemic. corona expert panel following an announcement by chancellor olaf scholz in late november 2021, just as his cabinet with a three-party traffic light coalition had been formed, the corona-expertenrat (corona expert panel) was established in december. its task was to monitor the course of the pandemic and the danger coming from any virus variants. the panel, whose members were appointed by scholz, included christian drosten, hendrik streeck, thomas mertens, lothar wieler, melanie brinkmann, alena buyx, and viola priesemann, of a total of 19 members. the panel had its first meeting on 14 december. on 1 july 2022, the panel presented a report on the efficacy of government anti-pandemic measures. the report was also commissioned to shape the anti-pandemic measures which were expected to be necessary from autumn, when previous legislation would expire and coronavirus cases were expected to go up sharply. the report did not arrive at clear-cut recommendations, saying that lockdowns were effective in the early stage of the pandemic but had less effect later, and that face masks were effective but only so if properly fitted. the report also criticized the robert koch institute for not having done enough to provide data for the study, and also pointed to time and staff limitations as reasons for the report not having been as comprehensive as would otherwise have been possible. in a 7 july bundestag debate, health minister lauterbach said: "it's sad that after two years we still do not get good daily data," and vowed to tackle that issue. the panel met for the last time on 4 april 2023. corona crisis team on 28 february 2020, the german government announced the establishment of a new crisis team (corona-krisenstab) tasked with combating the spread of covid-19, which was to meet twice a week. the establishment of the team, led jointly by the federal ministry of the interior and the federal ministry of health, followed crisis management regulations. the crisis team met nearly 100 times until november 2021, when chancellor-in-waiting