Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) does not rule out that when the new Infection Protection Act (IfSG) comes into force, a far-reaching mask requirement will be reintroduced in Germany.

“We will probably present a concept later this month.

The mask will certainly play a role there," said Buschmann in an interview with "Welt am Sonntag" according to the preliminary report.

His principle is “behavior adapted to the situation: If the danger decreases, then you have to withdraw the measures.

If the danger increases, then you have to counteract it appropriately.” In any case, the medical mask had “a very good cost-benefit ratio”.

Buschmann gave a clear rejection of possible new lockdowns.

"According to everything we know, lockdowns, school closures and curfews are no longer proportionate." Such measures can only be taken, if at all, in the early stages of a pandemic.

In its report on the Corona measures, a committee of experts, to which the Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck belongs, sharply criticized the data situation and the occurrence of restrictions on fundamental rights on Friday.

According to the experts, they were unable to evaluate individual measures due to the poor data situation - with one exception: wearing a mask indoors was rated as useful to reduce the incidence of infection.

It is noteworthy, however, that it was also unclear whether an FFP-2 mask provided better protection than surgical masks.

"A general recommendation to wear FFP-2 masks cannot be derived from the data available so far," the report says.

As for the 2-G rules and school closures, the panel was not clear.

Their benefit depends on the prevailing virus variants, and the protection against infection through vaccination fizzles out again over time.

It is also difficult to evaluate the measures because they were introduced in packages at the beginning of the pandemic and can no longer be separated.

Minister of Justice Buschmann has now announced that he intends to improve the data situation immediately.

It was only in June that Buschmann expressed skepticism about the reintroduction of the mask requirement in an interview with the daily newspaper “Rheinische Post”.

The Minister of Justice apparently did not consider their usefulness to be scientifically proven at this point.

"If the state wants to make masks mandatory, for example indoors, it has to be evidence-based and proportionate," he said last month.

Whether this is the case will only be known once all the reports are available.

Relevant studies had proven the benefits of medical masks long beforehand.

In October last year, for example, an American study came to a corresponding finding.

At the end of 2021, researchers from the University of Göttingen also confirmed the great benefits of medical masks.