The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in 38,437,953 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 174,979 deaths.
On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully contained. On 25 and 26 February, multiple cases related to the Italian outbreak were detected in Baden-Württemberg. A carnival event on 15 February in Heinsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, was attended by a man identified as positive on 25 February; in the outbreak which subsequently developed from infected participants, authorities were mostly no longer able to trace the likely chains of infections. On 9 March, the first two deaths in Germany were reported from Essen and Heinsberg. New clusters were introduced in other regions via Heinsberg as well as via people arriving from China, Iran and Italy, from where non-Germans could arrive by plane until 17–18 March. From 13 March, German states mandated school and kindergarten closures, postponed academic semesters and prohibited visits to nursing homes to protect the elderly. Two days later, borders to Austria, Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland were closed.
By 22 March, curfews were imposed in six German states while other states prohibited physical contact with more than one person from outside one's household.
On 15 April 2020, Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of "fragile intermediate success" that had been achieved in the fight against the pandemic. The same day, a first loosening of restrictions was announced, continued in early May, and eventually, holiday travels were allowed in cooperation with other European countries. A number of state premiers pressed for faster relaxation of restrictions, putting them at odds with Merkel, who favoured a more cautious approach, a pattern that repeated itself later that year. Substantial local outbreaks in meat processing plants drew public attention beyond the epidemiological context to poor working conditions. By late August, infection numbers had returned to the levels of April, and a possible second wave of the pandemic was under debate. By mid October, it was believed by experts to be inevitable. A partial lockdown from 2 November only temporarily halted the rise in case numbers; the total number of reported infections since the start of the pandemic crossed one million on 27 November. A hard lockdown from 15 December made FFP2 masks or other clinical masks mandatory on public transport and in shops. Repeated lockdown extensions were mainly motivated by the appearance of the Alpha variant and other mutations. Death rates in nursing homes remained high until late January 2021 but dropped strongly in February, likely due to residents and workers at these facilities having been prioritised in the vaccination campaign. The second wave peaked in January.
In March 2021, the Alpha variant drove a third wave of infections. The average age of the infected, as well as of those requiring intensive care, was much younger than in the first two waves. A reform of the Infection Protection Act in late April increased federal government powers, allowing it to mandate pandemic measures in hard-hit districts; in November 2021, the measures were ruled by the Federal Constitutional Court to have been legal. From late April, infection numbers started to continuously decrease; the third wave was seen as broken by early May. The Delta variant became dominant among the new infections by the end of June, and from early July, cases started to increase again. On 20 August, the RKI assessed the country to have entered the fourth wave of the pandemic, again with most of the cases coming from the younger age groups. With effect from 23 August, the so-called 3G rule gave those who were vaccinated, had recovered, or had a negative test result no older than 24 hours more freedom to visit numerous venues. From mid October, infections and intensive care unit admissions started to increase again. On 4 November, as almost 34,000 reported infections set a new record since the beginning of the pandemic, Health Minister Jens Spahn spoke of a "pandemic of the unvaccinated", which was criticized by scientists for underrating the role of the vaccinated in the pandemic. Unprecedentedly high infection numbers led Germany to reintroduce free coronavirus testing in November, a month after they had been phased out, and to launch a booster campaign. Booster vaccinations were declared by new Health Minister Karl Lauterbach to be central to the government strategy of combating the Omicron variant.
Warnings of a "massive fifth wave" driven by Omicron in December proved to be no exaggeration as daily case numbers rose up to over 200,000 by mid February 2022, and remained at a high level in March. Experts considered the absence of a decrease to be due to the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, which had ushered in the sixth wave of the pandemic, and expected more cases after the easing of pandemic measures scheduled to begin on 21 March.
Vaccinations with the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine began on 27 December 2020 (unofficially one day earlier); vaccinations with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the AstraZeneca vaccine and the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine began in mid January, early February, and mid March 2021 respectively. Vaccinations with AstraZeneca were stalled on 16 March 2021 due to concerns about rare and potentially lethal side effects but resumed on 19 March after the European Medicines Agency deemed the vaccine "safe and effective". On 30 March, German vaccination commission STIKO recommended limiting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to those aged 60 or over, but revised this on 22 April to allow for use in younger ages, subject to their consent to medical advice about the risks. Vaccinations accelerated in April, with a total of 15 million shots given that month. On 6 May, the AstraZeneca vaccine was made available to all adults, with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following on 10 May and all others on 7 June. Vaccination with AstraZeneca ceased on 1 December 2021. On 3 February 2022, the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine was approved. As of 25 November 2021, 68.1 per cent of the total population had completed their vaccination, with considerable regional variation across states. In mid-January 2022, the RKI reported that just under 75 per cent had received at least one vaccination.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in 38,437,953 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 174,979 deaths.
On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully contained. On 25 and 26 February, multiple cases related to the Italian outbreak were detected in Baden-Württemberg. A carnival event on 15 February in Heinsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, was attended by a man identified as positive on 25 February; in the outbreak which subsequently developed from infected participants, authorities were mostly no longer able to trace the likely chains of infections. On 9 March, the first two deaths in Germany were reported from Essen and Heinsberg. New clusters were introduced in other regions via Heinsberg as well as via people arriving from China, Iran and Italy, from where non-Germans could arrive by plane until 17–18 March. From 13 March, German states mandated school and kindergarten closures, postponed academic semesters and prohibited visits to nursing homes to protect the elderly. Two days later, borders to Austria, Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland were closed. By 22 March, curfews were imposed in six German states while other states prohibited physical contact with more than one person from outside one's household.
On 15 April 2020, Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of "fragile intermediate success" that had been achieved in the fight against the pandemic. The same day, a first loosening of restrictions was announced, continued in early May, and eventually, holiday travels were allowed in cooperation with other European countries. A number of state premiers pressed for faster relaxation of restrictions, putting them at odds with Merkel, who favoured a more cautious approach, a pattern that repeated itself later that year. Substantial local outbreaks in meat processing plants drew public attention beyond the epidemiological context to poor working conditions. By late August, infection numbers had returned to the levels of April, and a possible second wave of the pandemic was under debate. By mid October, it was believed by experts to be inevitable. A partial lockdown from 2 November only temporarily halted the rise in case numbers; the total number of reported infections since the start of the pandemic crossed one million on 27 November. A hard lockdown from 15 December made FFP2 masks or other clinical masks mandatory on public transport and in shops. Repeated lockdown extensions were mainly motivated by the appearance of the Alpha variant and other mutations. Death rates in nursing homes remained high until late January 2021 but dropped strongly in February, likely due to residents and workers at these facilities having been prioritised in the vaccination campaign. The second wave peaked in January.
In March 2021, the Alpha variant drove a third wave of infections. The average age of the infected, as well as of those requiring intensive care, was much younger than in the first two waves. A reform of the Infection Protection Act in late April increased federal government powers, allowing it to mandate pandemic measures in hard-hit districts; in November 2021, the measures were ruled by the Federal Constitutional Court to have been legal. From late April, infection numbers started to continuously decrease; the third wave was seen as broken by early May. The Delta variant became dominant among the new infections by the end of June, and from early July, cases started to increase again. On 20 August, the RKI assessed the country to have entered the fourth wave of the pandemic, again with most of the cases coming from the younger age groups. With effect from 23 August, the so-called 3G rule gave those who were vaccinated, had recovered, or had a negative test result no older than 24 hours more freedom to visit numerous venues. From mid October, infections and intensive care unit admissions started to increase again. On 4 November, as almost 34,000 reported infections set a new record since the beginning of the pandemic, Health Minister Jens Spahn spoke of a "pandemic of the unvaccinated", which was criticized by scientists for underrating the role of the vaccinated in the pandemic. Unprecedentedly high infection numbers led Germany to reintroduce free coronavirus testing in November, a month after they had been phased out, and to launch a booster campaign. Booster vaccinations were declared by new Health Minister Karl Lauterbach to be central to the government strategy of combating the Omicron variant. Warnings of a "massive fifth wave" driven by Omicron in December proved to be no exaggeration as daily case numbers rose up to over 200,000 by mid February 2022, and remained at a high level in March. Experts considered the absence of a decrease to be due to the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, which had ushered in the sixth wave of the pandemic, and expected more cases after the easing of pandemic measures scheduled to begin on 21 March.
Vaccinations with the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine began on 27 December 2020 (unofficially one day earlier); vaccinations with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the AstraZeneca vaccine and the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine began in mid January, early February, and mid March 2021 respectively. Vaccinations with AstraZeneca were stalled on 16 March 2021 due to concerns about rare and potentially lethal side effects but resumed on 19 March after the European Medicines Agency deemed the vaccine "safe and effective". On 30 March, German vaccination commission STIKO recommended limiting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to those aged 60 or over, but revised this on 22 April to allow for use in younger ages, subject to their consent to medical advice about the risks. Vaccinations accelerated in April, with a total of 15 million shots given that month. On 6 May, the AstraZeneca vaccine was made available to all adults, with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following on 10 May and all others on 7 June. Vaccination with AstraZeneca ceased on 1 December 2021. On 3 February 2022, the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine was approved. As of 25 November 2021, 68.1 per cent of the total population had completed their vaccination, with considerable regional variation across states. In mid-January 2022, the RKI reported that just under 75 per cent had received at least one vaccination.
Background
Outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease
On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan, Hubei, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
In the implementation of federal and state guidelines to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the Infection Protection Act (Infektionsschutzgesetz, IfSG) has played a central role. Enacted in 2000, the IfSG authorises state governments to issue regulations to control communicable diseases, and to order protective measures including quarantine, thus granting them considerable power in relation to the federal government, whose primary task is to coordinate the measures taken.
Pressure by state premiers repeatedly forced Chancellor Merkel to soften anti-pandemic measures.
In March 2020, the federal government drafted a change to the IfSG to allow the federal government more power over the federal states. Among others it would allow the health ministry to prohibit border crossings, track the contacts of infected persons and enlist doctors, medicine students and other health care workers in the efforts against an infectious disease. A condition for use of the additional powers is the determination of an epidemic situation of national significance (de:Epidemische Lage von nationaler Tragweite). The Bundestag made this determination on 25 March, the same day it approved the amendments to the IfSG. The amendments became law on 27 March. The determination was extended repeatedly, for the fourth time on 25 August 2021 for tentatively three months. In a 11 November Bundestag debate, chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz pushed for the state of emergency to end on 25 November as scheduled; in justification of this measure, which was expected to go ahead, fellow Social Democrat Dirk Wiese said that "lockdowns for the entire republic and de-facto occupational bans ... we no longer consider proportionate". On the same occasion, Scholz called for parliamentary support for a catalogue of new measures that would replace the state of emergency.
On 18 November 2020, a reform of the IfSG which had been proposed by the ruling Grand coalition was passed in the Bundestag with 415 votes in favour, 236 against, and eight abstentions. The regulations of the law include a specification of the scope of measures which may be taken by individual states to combat a health emergency such as the current pandemic. The purpose of the law was to put measures that had been previously enacted by decree on a more firm legal basis. It also addressed complaints from across the political spectrum about what they saw as diminished role of the parliament. The opposition parties in parliament remained dissatisfied with the reformed law.
A further revision of the IfSG came into force on 22 April 2021, allowing the federal government to mandate curfews from 24 April.
National Pandemic Plan
Germany has a common National Pandemic Plan, which describes the responsibilities and measures of the health care system actors in case of a huge epidemic. Epidemic control is executed both by the federal authorities such as Robert Koch Institute and by the German states. The German states have their own epidemic plans. On 4 March, the RKI published an extension of the national plan, which it had produced in collaboration with several other entities, for the handling of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Four major targets are included in this plan:
Reduce morbidity and mortality
Ensure treatment of infected persons
Upkeep of essential public services
Reliable and accurate information for decision-makers, medical professionals, media and public
The plan has three stages, which might eventually overlap due to regional differences in the evolution of the pandemic:
Containment (circumstances of dedicated cases and clusters)
Protection (circumstances of further spreading infections and unknown sources of infections)
Mitigation (circumstances of widespread infections)
In the containment stage health authorities are focusing on identifying contact persons who are put in personal quarantine and are monitored and tested. Personal quarantine is overseen by the local health agencies. By doing so, authorities are trying to keep infection chains short, leading to curtailed clusters. As of 4 March 2020, the pandemic was managed in the containment stage. In the protection stage the strategy will change to using direct measures to protect vulnerable persons from becoming infected. The mitigation stage will eventually try to avoid spikes of intensive treatment in order to maintain medical services.
Criticism over slow procurement of protective materials
As early as January 2020, the German Bundestag was fully informed about the dangers of the global spread of a coronavirus pandemic. A risk analysis predicted how dangerous a global coronavirus outbreak could be. It stated that "children [...] have [...] minor disease progressions" and that the risk of death of "over-65-year-olds [is] at 50%". It further stated that a "vaccine" is "unavailable", so all the more important is the "use of protective equipment such as protective masks, goggles and gloves". But until 24 March, the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) had never set up appropriate stores or had talks with manufacturers and suppliers to prepare for such a situation, was the criticism of some experts.
Timeline by state
Baden-Württemberg
On 25 February, a 25-year-old man from Göppingen, Baden-Württemberg, who had recently returned from Milan, Italy, tested positive and was treated in Klinik am Eichert. On 26 February, Baden-Württemberg confirmed three new cases. The 24-year-old girlfriend of the 25-year-old man from Göppingen and her 60-year-old father, who worked as a chief physician at University Hospital Tübingen, tested positive and were admitted to the same hospital in Tübingen. A 32-year-old man from Rottweil, Baden-Württemberg, who had visited Codogno, Italy with his family on 23 February, tested positive and was admitted to a hospital for isolation.
On 27 February, Baden-Württemberg confirmed four new cases, for a total of eight cases in the region. Two women and a man from Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Freiburg, respectively, tested positive. They had had contact with an Italian participant at a business meeting in Munich; he was subsequently tested positive in Italy. A man from the district of Böblingen, who had had contact with the travel companion of the patient from Göppingen, also tested positive.
On 28 February, Baden-Württemberg confirmed five new cases, bringing the total number of cases in the state to thirteen. A man from Ludwigsburg with flu symptoms who had tested negative for influenza virus was automatically tested for SARS-CoV-2 and confirmed positive. A man from Rhine-Neckar returning from a short ski holiday with mild cold symptoms checked himself in to the emergency department of the University Hospital Heidelberg and tested positive. A 32-year-old man in Heilbronn tested positive and was admitted to a hospital. He had been in Milan on 21 February and fallen ill with flu symptoms on 23 February. A man from Nuremberg who was in Karlsruhe on business was admitted to the Karlsruhe City Hospital after testing positive. His family in Nuremberg was also ill with respiratory symptoms. A man from Breisgau who had travelled to Bergamo, Italy also tested positive and underwent isolation.
After the ease of lockdown, a group of Germans who had been working in China was allowed to return. On arrival in Tianjin on 29 May 2020, Chinese authorities tested a 34-year-old engineer from Blaustein positive for the coronavirus. A test on departure in Frankfurt had shown no infection.
Bavaria
On 27 January 2020, the Bavarian Ministry of Health announced that a 52-year-old employee of Webasto, a German car parts supplier at Starnberg, Bavaria had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. He contracted the infection from a Chinese colleague who had received a visit in Shanghai from her parents from Wuhan. His was the first known case of a person contracting the virus outside of China from a non-relative – the first known transmission of the virus outside China being father to son in Vietnam.
On 28 January, three more cases were confirmed, a 27-year-old and a 40-year-old man as well as a 33-year-old woman. All three were also employees of Webasto. They were monitored and quarantined at the München Hospital in Schwabing.
On 30 January, a man from Siegsdorf who worked for the same company tested positive; on 31 January and 3 February respectively, both his children tested positive. His wife also tested positive on 6 February. A 52-year-old Webasto employee from Fürstenfeldbruck tested positive.
On 1 February, a 33-year-old Webasto employee living in Munich tested positive. On 3 February, another employee was confirmed positive. On 7 February, the wife of a previously diagnosed man tested positive. On 11 February, a 49-year-old Webasto employee tested positive, as did a family member of a previously diagnosed employee.
According to reconstruction analysis published in September 2020, the outbreak at Webasto had not seeded the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, with the evidence pointing instead to the latter outbreak having been initiated by cases imported directly from China.
On 27 February, Bavaria confirmed that a man from Middle Franconia tested positive after he had contact with an Italian man who later tested positive as well.
On 8 March, an 83-year-old resident of the St. Nikolaus home of the elderly in Würzburg was brought into hospital and died four days later diagnosed with COVID-19, becoming the first reported death of the virus in Bavaria. By 27 March, ten more residents of the St. Nikolaus home of the elderly had also died of the virus and 44 residents and 32 employees tested positive. The residency complained about a lack of personnel and protective equipment.
On 12 August 2020, Bavarian health authorities admitted that they had not yet informed over 44,000 returning travellers about the results of their COVID-19 tests, mostly taken at mobile testing centres at highways. It was believed that there had been over 900 positive cases among these. The government explained the glitch with missing software and an unexpected large number of volunteers tested. Health Minister Melanie Huml reportedly offered her resignation to premier Soeder, whose decision to leave her in office was met with sharp criticism by the parliamentary opposition. In January 2021, Huml was moved to a position in the Bavarian State Chancellery.
From 18 January 2021, pursuant to a 12 January decision, Bavaria made the wearing of FFP2 masks mandatory on public transport and in supermarkets, excepting bus drivers, ticket inspectors, and children aged up to 14 years. The new rule would not be policed until 24 January. The Bavarian government said it would provide masks free of charge to low-income groups and social welfare recipients.