- German government considering return to compulsory mask wearing indoors
- Plan would apply from October to March, Germany newspaper Die Welt report
- Drastic measure would be intended to reduce tackle a winter Covid wave
- Plans will come as disappointment to 80m Germans enjoying post-Covid life
The German government is mulling proposals to enforce compulsory mask-wearing from October to March, it was reported today.
The plans would encompass mask wearing in all public spaces – including bars, restaurants and shops – during the colder half of the year in a bid to battle the spread of Covid, in a so-called ‘O-bis-O’ (Oktober bis Ostern) scheme, German paper Die Welt reported on Friday.
Covid cases usually rise over the winter months as people retreat indoors, so advocates of the plan hope to counteract that trend and also tackle other lung and flu infections.
The country has recently reported between 50 and 130 coronavirus-related deaths a day, according to official figures in what has been described as a ‘summer wave’ even before the cold weather arrives.