Return to smart working and Green pass for those who go to the office, so Germany wants to stem the fourth wave

Germany is preparing to restore smart working, revoked in early July, to face the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The draft law under consideration provides that employers should allow home work "in the absence of a compelling economic reason" to go to the office. The same project states that, in case it is necessary to work on site, a certificate of vaccination or recovery from the virus, or a negative test would be required. A Green pass identical to the Italian one, in substance.

Any new restrictive measures in the country will be discussed on Thursday in a meeting between the state and the Lander, then the passage in Parliament.

Infections and deaths have skyrocketed in the country since mid-October, in a fourth wave mainly attributed to the relatively low vaccination rate, which is around 67%.

Today, the incidence has reached a new high, with 289 cases per week per 100,000 inhabitants.

The presidents of the three so-called traffic light parties, SPD, Verdi and FDP, want to tighten the Covid legislation again and restrictions for unvaccinated people are also being discussed.

"The incoming wave will overshadow all previous ones," Saxony state premier Michael Kretschmer, whose region is currently among the hardest hit, told German weekly Bild am Sonntag.

(Unioneonline / L)