Germany's parliament adopts tougher COVID measures
Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, adopted tougher coronavirus measures on Thursday, as new infections reached the highest level since the beginning of the pandemic, Anadolu Agency reports.
The legislation put forward by the prospective coalition partners, the Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats, provides a legal basis for further restrictions, especially for unvaccinated people.
The new set of measures included a workplace requirement in which employees will have to present proof of vaccination, recovery from the virus, or a negative test before coming to work.
Depending on the infection rate, federal states will be able to only allow people who have been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 to have access to restaurants, bars or cultural events.
Regional authorities may also require passengers on public transport to be vaccinated, recovered, tested negative.
To better protect older individuals from COVID-19, testing will be obligatory for staff and visitors in nursing homes, including for those vaccinated or recovered from the disease.
The new legislation still needs to be approved by the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house of parliament, which is scheduled to discuss the measures on Friday.
Germany on Thursday hit its highest daily number of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began last year, as officials warned that many hospitals were now at the limits of their capacity.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 65,371 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, and 264 more virus-related deaths.
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