Monday April 12, 2021
“No federal lockdown until June”
Head of the Chancellery denies emergency braking Zoff
As early as Tuesday, the federal cabinet wants to tighten the Infection Protection Act. Chancellery Minister Braun defends himself against reports that the tatters are flying in internal federal-state talks. But the curfew also continues to lead to open arguments.
Chancellery Minister Helge Braun has rejected a report on a corona lockdown that may last until mid-June. Braun denied on Twitter that he had warned at a meeting with representatives of the countries that the lockdown would have to apply until the end of May or mid-June. The aim of the planned federal law to fight the corona pandemic is rather to “quickly contain” the infection process, emphasized Braun.
The “Tagesspiegel” had reported, citing the consultations of the Chancellery Minister with the federal states, that the federal government was assuming an aggravated infection situation that would continue for six to eight weeks. From this it can be concluded that the lockdown measures planned by federal law can be expected from a seven-day incidence of 100 up to the end of May or mid-June. From regional circles it is said that the federal government is not ready to move away from the incidence value as the sole benchmark for the lockdown order, wrote the “Tagesspiegel”. The seven-day incidence is the number of new corona infections per 100,000 inhabitants within this period.
Braun criticized the report via Twitter. “It is increasing dramatically that reports are being produced about what one would have said in internal meetings without even being asked whether one really embraces the alleged statement,” he explained with a view to the conversations on Sunday . The Chancellery Minister expressly contradicted the assessment that he was warning that a “federal lockdown was possible until mid-June”. “No! I don’t,” wrote Braun, looking at a headline in the “Bild” newspaper. “The aim of the federal law is to curb the infection rate quickly so that the affected regions can quickly make their own decisions again.”
“Effect against zero”: Haseloff against curfew
Despite the attempt by the Chancellery to show extensive agreement between the federal government and the federal states, there was again open criticism from the federal states of the planned emergency brake package on Monday: Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff rejected general curfews. “Curfews – this is also confirmed by research – have little influence on the infection rate,” Haseloff said on “Bild” online. “A certain effect may still exist in metropolitan areas, in rural areas this tends to be zero,” said the CDU politician in the afternoon.
Regardless of the ongoing criticism, the grand coalition is sticking to its plan to initiate the tightening of the Infection Protection Act in the federal cabinet on Tuesday. The ministerial round should take a corresponding decision, announced government spokesman Steffen Seibert. The draft provides for a nationwide emergency brake with a nightly curfew and shop closings if the incidence is high. According to the SPD, companies should also be obliged to offer their employees corona tests.
The votes on the planned new regulation, which should give the federal government more competencies in the corona pandemic, were still going, said government spokesman Seibert at noon. He did not provide any information on the content of the deliberations. “There are still votes going on on many individual points,” he said simply. The draft law that became known over the weekend provides for nightly curfews and other regulations, for example for schools and daycare centers. They are said to take effect in counties and cities where the seven-day incidence is more than 100. So far, it has been up to the federal states to issue such restrictions by ordinance.
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