Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil wants to end the special rules in the workplace to protect against corona infection two months earlier than planned.
"I will repeal the Corona Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance on February 2, 2023 by ministerial decree," the SPD politician told the Reuters news agency on Thursday.
The special hygiene precautions would have provided important services, especially in the peak phases of the pandemic.
"Thanks to the extensive protective measures, infections in the company could be prevented and work and production losses avoided," said Heil.
Due to the increasing immunity in the population, the number of new cases is now falling sharply.
"Therefore, uniform nationwide guidelines for operational infection protection are no longer necessary," said the Minister of Labor.
The Corona Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance was updated at the beginning of October 2022 and limited to April 7, 2023.
At present, companies are still obliged to define infection protection measures in a hygiene concept through a risk assessment.
The obligation to offer work from home, which was temporarily prescribed in the regulation, had already expired in March last year.
There is also no longer an operational obligation to offer a test offer.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) announced last week that the mask requirement in long-distance rail transport would end prematurely from February 2nd.