German parliament debates stricter pandemic measures

The German parliament began debating measures on Tuesday that would impose compulsory vaccination on people working in hospital and care homes, along with plans to expand the number of professionals administering the jabs, in efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic, reported dpa.

Also under consideration was granting additional powers to the 16 states, which are ultimately responsible for health policy, to impose stricter measures, such as lockdowns in pandemic hotspots.

The Bundestag was debating changes to infection control legislation that was last amended in November, when the three parties making up the incoming coalition allowed the previous emergency legislation to expire.

Those changes ruled out total lockdowns of the kind imposed earlier in the pandemic to the dismay of many politicians in the outgoing government.

Lars Klingbeil, who is set to take over as general secretary of the Social Democrats (SPD), the largest party in the new parliament, called for a cross-party approach.

"There needs to be an alliance across the parties that places protecting the people at the centre," he told national public broadcaster ARD on Monday evening.

The debate comes amid signs that the number of infections is stabilizing at around 440 per 100,000 of the population during a seven-day period, the key indicator used by the disease control body, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Hospitalizations with the virus average around 5.3 per 100,000.

There were also indications of a decline from the worst-hit state of Saxony, where the seven-day incidence fell on Tuesday to 1082.1 from 1234.4 on Monday, with officials cautioning that the data were incomplete.