Everyone has known the Corona warning app from Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach since Friday.

At the first press conference after his corona isolation on Friday, the SPD politician held his mobile phone up to the cameras to explain an aspect of the new infection protection law that has led to a lot of criticism.

According to Lauterbach, the application will be reprogrammed in accordance with the amendment so that in future a green status display will appear instead of the blue one.

Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

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Kim Bjorn Becker

Editor in Politics.

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However, this only happens if the person either tested negative or had recovered no more than three months ago or was fully vaccinated no more than three months ago.

According to the new regulations, this evidence is the only way to be allowed to enter certain interiors without protection, such as restaurants, fitness clubs or cinemas, after the federal states have ordered a mask requirement.

The green indicator applies immediately after the most recent injection, the usual waiting time of two weeks for effectiveness does not apply.

Lauterbach considers the three-month rule to be correct because the immune protection against the current Omicron variants decreases after this period.

However, you remain reliably protected against severe courses, as indicated by the app display, which then turns blue again.

It is therefore “medically completely nonsensical” to be vaccinated every three months just to avoid the mask requirement.

No doctor would agree to that, and the vaccination centers wouldn't either, according to the minister: "Then you have to wear a mask again, it's that simple."

However, the period of time can be adjusted if the expected new vaccines protect against infection and the transmission of the virus for longer.

Lauterbach expects the European approval of the bivalent BA.1 vaccine on September 1st with delivery the following day.

September 27th and 28th is to be expected for the BA.5 vaccine.

If studies with these new preparations show a longer effectiveness against infection, the interval for mask exemption could be extended from three to four or five months.

Lauterbach referred to his own recent infection.

He was vaccinated four times and well protected, but could still be infected because the last injection was more than 90 days ago.

Do we need specific limit values ​​for corona measures?

The new corona rules, on which Lauterbach has agreed with Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP), are to come into force after the current Infection Protection Act expires on October 1, in order to slow down the expected increase in infections in the cold season.

However, they are not based on any incidence values.

A mask requirement will then apply nationwide in long-distance passenger transport, on airplanes, for visitors to clinics and homes.

For their part, the federal states can order the mask requirement for local transport and publicly accessible interiors as a protective “winter tire rule”, but must take into account the exceptions in gastronomy, culture or sport.

However, these exemptions do not apply in the case of aggravated situation according to the second stage, which is also known as the "snow chain rule".

Hygiene concepts, distance rules, a mask requirement outdoors and a maximum number of people indoors are then planned again.

The federal states had criticized the mask requirement as impractical with the exceptions.

At the entrance and even after admission, the process can hardly be monitored.

Lauterbach replied that the controls according to the 3G and 2G Plus rules had worked earlier, and random samples were easily possible inside, especially with the "green proof" on the adapted app.

However, the minister announced that he would discuss the issues again with the federal states, saying that the federal government's proposals were not "set in stone".

Next week there will be a meeting with the heads of the state chancellery.

The law will then go to the cabinet on August 24 and should be passed by parliament at the beginning of September.