Germany could lift all COVID-19 restrictions in August: FM

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Tuesday said he supported the lifting of all COVID-19 restrictions once a vaccine has been offered to everyone in the country. reported Xinhua.

When this is achieved, there is "no longer a legal or political justification for any kind of restriction," Maas told the German Press Agency on Tuesday, adding that he expected this to happen during August.

A narrow majority of Germans are in favor of lifting all COVID-19 measures for fully vaccinated people by September, according to a YouGov survey published on Tuesday.

Shortly after the start of Germany's vaccination campaign in January, Maas already called for lifting the restrictions on vaccinated people, who "should be allowed to exercise their basic rights again." He was criticized at the time because it was not yet clear whether vaccinated people could spread the virus.

Almost 32.4 million people in Germany had already been fully vaccinated by last Sunday, bringing the country's vaccination rate to 38.9 percent, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the federal agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention