Shortly before the top round of the federal and state level, the Robert Koch Institute recommended far-reaching restrictions to protect against the Corona variant Omikron.

In view of the current dangers, "maximum contact restrictions" are necessary from now on, according to an updated version of the RKI Corona strategy published on Tuesday.

The institute lists a number of measures that begin immediately and should initially be maintained until mid-January.

Regarding the contact restrictions, it specifically states that the number of people indoors should be limited to a maximum of ten people.

All people except those who have been completely vaccinated and who have received a booster are counted; the institute recommends a group size of no more than 15 people for them.

In outdoor areas, the RKI names 50 or 75 people as the upper limit. 

At this point, the draft resolution for the federal-state meeting provides: private gatherings of vaccinated and convalescents are only allowed with a maximum of 10 people.

“This upper limit applies to private meetings both indoors and outdoors.

Children up to the age of 14 are exempt from this. ”However, the regulation should only take effect from December 28th.

Extend the Christmas holidays of schools and daycare centers

The strategy document also names some specific recommendations from the RKI experts, some of which go well beyond the plans of the federal-state round: for example, the extension of the Christmas holidays for schools and daycare centers;

the closure of restaurants, bars and indoor sports facilities as well as the conversion of teaching in universities and other colleges to distance teaching.

Also required are maximum speed when vaccinating the population, reducing travel to what is “absolutely necessary” and “intensive accompanying communication to understand the measures”.

The first analyzes by the RKI had shown that "Omikron was able to identify the majority of cases of infection in Germany and tens of thousands of cases of infection every day as early as January 2022," the paper says.

Under the current conditions, the doubling time in Germany is around three days.

The recommendations are the first update of the RKI Corona strategy in three months.

The new version had become necessary because "this variant will result in a wave of infections that have not yet been observed," the paper says.