Anyone who becomes infected with the corona virus no longer has to go into isolation from May 1st.

The same applies to people who have had contact with an infected person and have previously had to be quarantined.

The new rules should be based on “voluntary”, said Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) on Monday after consultations with the health ministers of the federal states.

Accordingly, isolation and quarantine should only last five days and should no longer be ordered and monitored by the health authorities.

There is only one “urgent recommendation” to isolate yourself.

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Excluded are employees in the medical field;

they would still have to isolate themselves and then test free.

Lauterbach said it is good that the tipping point of the current wave of contagions appears to have been reached.

According to the Robert Koch Institute, the nationwide seven-day incidence fell on Monday to 1,425 cases per 100,000 inhabitants within a week.

Lauterbach also praised a new compromise proposal for compulsory vaccination.

The draft combines the "benefits" of several approaches, said the minister.

Previously, the advocates of compulsory vaccination from 18 years had presented a compromise that should take up the concerns of two other groups of members of the Bundestag.

On Thursday, the Bundestag will deal with the existing draft laws on vaccination in the second and third readings, and the new application will then also be up for vote.

Will seniors be vaccinated anytime soon?

According to this, people who are 50 years old or older should first be obliged to be vaccinated.

From September 30th, they will be obliged to present a vaccination certificate.

Since immunization requires three vaccinations, unvaccinated people from this group would have to have their first vaccination in the coming weeks.

By then, people aged 18 to 49 who have not yet been vaccinated must be able to provide evidence that they have taken part in a consultation.

The decision on compulsory vaccination for younger people is to be postponed to September.

Then the Bundestag should decide whether vaccination should also be activated for this age group.

That should also depend on how high the vaccination rate is by then and which virus variants are expected in autumn.

For the obligation to provide evidence, the MPs initially want to cooperate with the health insurance companies.

However, the compromise also contains the plan to create a vaccination register as soon as possible, as required by the Union.

"I support the proposal as a member of parliament myself," said Lauterbach.

It is important that the Bundestag comes to a decision on compulsory vaccination at all.

Without this step, lockdowns and contact restrictions could become necessary again in the autumn.

"We can save a lot and should do that," said Lauterbach.

"I hope that a broad majority will be reached in Parliament." Since compulsory vaccination takes five months before it takes effect, a decision must be made quickly.

237 MPs from four parliamentary groups supported the application for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Minister of Health Lauterbach.

The group, which consists mainly of MPs from the SPD and the Greens, cannot be sure of the relative majority required for the vote.

Representatives of the group had tried in the past few days to find a solution with the Union faction and a group around the FDP MP Andrew Ullmann, who initially relied on advice.

The SPD MP Dagmar Schmidt spoke on Monday of a lack of "willingness to negotiate".

Now the parliamentarians hope to get things moving with a compromise.

If the modified application gets a majority, the Federal Council should deal with it on Friday.