Germany to End National ‘Epidemic’ Situation Next Month

Students wear mouth-to-nose coverings while sitting close to each other during the lecture 'BWL 1' in lecture hall H1 of the Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet in Muenster, Germany, on Oct. 11, 2021. Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP

BERLIN—The German parliament will not extend the “epidemic situation of national scope” when it expires next month, but will keep in place certain measures to check the spread of the coronavirus, lawmakers said on Wednesday.

Leading members of the country’s parliament, or Bundestag, said that although coronavirus infections have been rising again recently, they did not see the need to prolong the “epidemic situation” which it was first declared in March 2020 and has been repeatedly extended since then. They said that the situation had fundamentally changed due to the fact that about two-thirds of the population had been vaccinated against the virus.