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 that frustrated decision-makers. The first months 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, and whose approval ratings increased dramatically by April 2020. From mid-April, many restrictions were successively lifted. 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 and deaths by November. 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. A catalogue of measures, some of which were tied to the hospitalization rate, was passed by the Bundestag in November 2021 as the epidemic situation of national significance expired. 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. Several members of the FDP (Free Democrats) party participated in the unsuccessful legal challenge against the Bundesnotbremse. The far-right populist AfD party also challenged several measures. (en)
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 acro (en)