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Berlin (dpa) - Sunny weather, open beer gardens, Easter vacation on the beach or in the mountains - how beautiful could life be in spring, many are probably thinking right now.
If only it weren't for the corona lockdown.
In order to make openings possible and secure, significantly more tests are to come across the board that do not have to be sent to the laboratory: free rapid tests by trained staff, for example in practices or pharmacies, and self-tests for use directly at home.
Hopes are high - but what can the tests actually do?
What are the political plans?
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The stated goal is to combine openings and tests.
"An intelligent opening strategy is inextricably linked to comprehensive quick tests, as it were as the freest," said Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung".
How that should work, she wants to determine with the federal states next Wednesday.
A start on March 1, which Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) has already announced, will not come.
Merkel says: "But it will be in March."
What prospects does politics promise people?
For days there have been more and more concrete opening steps - although the more contagious virus variant that paralyzed London in winter continues to spread.
On Thursday there were 11,869 new infections reported within one day, 1662 more than a week earlier.
The number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days rose to 62. However, vaccinations are now also expected to increase significantly.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) told the "Rheinische Post": "I assume that we will be able to sit in the beer garden again in the summer and that we will watch the next Bundesliga season in the stadium again."
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What do those responsible in the federal states say?
Thuringia's Minister of Economic Affairs, Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD), is hoping for a nationwide uniform regulation for the careful opening of restaurants and tourism - also in the course of the better availability of rapid tests.
Lower Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Bernd Althusmann (CDU) relies on vaccination and testing and thus a cautious opening of tourism at Easter.
Are the federal states waiting for a common line?
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Not everywhere.
Saarland has already bought 2.5 million self-tests, Berlin 2 million.
Laypeople have to take a swab in the front of their nose.
Schoolchildren, for example, should use them.
Rapid tests with deeper smears by trained staff are already being used by school staff and educators in Berlin.
Test offers for teachers have also been expanded in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
In the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district - Thuringia's number one corona hotspot - free rapid tests were used by more than 1200 people.
In the tests that have been running since Monday, nine infected people were discovered, the results of which were confirmed by PCR tests.
But how should openings be linked to rapid tests?
It's not easy to organize.
One is an offer that everyone can be tested according to their own assessment - for example with proof of results for travel, explained Spahn on Deutschlandfunk.
In Austria or Denmark, around two and a half percent of the population use something like this every day, which is also financially and organizationally representable.
But if certain opening steps were linked to tests - such as visits to events or shops - the need for testing would of course be significantly higher.
How is widespread use of the self-tests conceivable?
Probably hardly as a basis for government lockdown relaxation.
Because whether you have tested yourself remains a matter of trust, unless it happens under supervision.
It would be conceivable that restaurants, for example, put a tent in front of the door as a private self-test station.
Spahn was convinced that "the vast majority of citizens" do not simply ignore a positive test - then it should be checked using a PCR test.
There is no other sensible way than to rely on self-responsibility with self-tests, as the name suggests.
"We can't check in every kitchen."
What are the remaining risks with rapid tests?
Politicians and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) emphasize that the most accurate and reliable PCR tests remain the "gold standard".
The quick tests without laboratory evaluation are considered as supplementary instruments, ideally when used regularly.
However, even a negative result is “no license” to no longer keep your distance, explained the Ministry of Health.
The CSU politician Stephan Pilsinger warned in the Bundestag: "Building on untargeted mass tests now can be dangerous."
Self-tests also need understandable instructions for use, because incorrectly applied tests usually produce a negative result.
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What's next?
"Rapid tests should be made available as quickly as possible, across the board and free of charge," demanded Ingrid Hartges, the managing director of the hotel and restaurant association.
But how quickly capacities can be ramped up remains to be seen.
In some nursing homes there are problems because of a shortage of staff.
During the tests themselves, the federal government expects sufficient supplies: up to 800 million are guaranteed for this year.
The first self-tests should soon be available in pharmacies, other shops and online.
Calls for free offers were loud in the Bundestag.
"Give every citizen two free self-tests every week," demanded Janosch Dahmen from the Greens.
The SPD MP Hilde Mattheis suggested that students should be able to pick up a weekly ration free of charge in pharmacies.
What are the plans for Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn?
At Lufthansa, the new self-tests will initially not change the processes.
"We only check before departure whether the passengers meet the state travel regulations," said a spokesman.
Whether and which tests would be accepted is a matter for the states.
Airlines did not make their own test requirements.
Lufthansa only requires passengers to carry out an up-to-date PCR test if they have been exempted from the mask requirement by a doctor.
At the railway, they did not want to comment on tests at first.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210225-99-593892 / 2
Information on the dispensing regulation for medical devices
National test strategy
Information on self-tests in Austria
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Safe School Study
PEI minimum criteria for rapid antigen tests
BfArM list of home test requirements
Application example
Epidemiological bulletin
BfArM on the three approved tests