Spahn wants to tip compulsory tests for return travelers
Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for
More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.Anyone who enters from a so-called risk area and cannot present a negative certificate must be tested for Corona. This regulation could now be abolished again and replaced by a different procedure - at least according to the federal proposal.
The recently introduced compulsory corona tests for travelers returning from risk areas could soon be abolished. Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) has suggested that instead of tests immediately after entry, quarantine requirements should apply again in the future. The quarantine can "only be ended by a negative test result in a test five days after entry at the earliest," says Spahn in a concept that he presented to the health ministers of the federal states for their deliberations this Monday afternoon.
According to the proposal, excerpts from the German Press Agency, the rules for returning from risk regions should be revised across the whole of Germany after the summer holidays. The last time the vacation ends in Baden-Wuerttemberg is mid-September. The experience from the last few weeks should be incorporated, also with a view to increasingly limited test capacities, it said.
Laboratories reach their limits
A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health said on Monday that the laboratories are currently heavily loaded and it is foreseeable that the system will permanently reach its limits. "It is also clear that if we drive at full load in this area for weeks, we will have material and personnel problems." Therefore one has to adapt the test strategy accordingly. According to the spokesman, around 875,000 corona tests are currently being carried out every week. The laboratories would have a theoretical capacity of around 1.2 million.
The Berlin Senator for Health and current chairman of the conference of health ministers of the federal states, Dilek Kalayci, said that the capacities for tests in Berlin were exhausted due to the massive testing of those returning from the trip. In addition, they say there are reports from the laboratories about material shortages. The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach wrote on Twitter at the weekend that the laboratories were running out of chemicals and substances that are needed for the test (so-called reagents) and certain plastic parts.
It remains unclear who bears the costs
The cost of the tests was also discussed recently. Prime ministers from various federal states had criticized that these are free for vacationers who were in risk areas. It remained unclear on Monday whether the new regulations proposed by Spahn also provide for a change here. Since the end of July, vacationers have been able to have themselves tested for Corona free of charge. Travelers who come from a region that has been declared a risk area have even had to do so since August 8, if they can not show a negative test. This is also free of charge so far.
The deliberations of the health ministers precede the planned video conference by Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the federal states on Thursday. Resolutions are only expected then.
A uniform framework is crucial
From Bavaria's point of view, the increasing number of corona cases makes it necessary for the federal states to proceed in a uniform manner. "If there is no binding framework, there is a high probability that we will no longer be able to prevent the negative development of Corona," said Prime Minister Markus Söder in Munich. It is therefore necessary for the federal and state governments to agree on a uniform framework, or at least common minimum standards, on Thursday. As examples, he cited the mask requirement, the amount of fines and the number of people allowed for private and public events. (lv / dpa)
