The government of Germany initially responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with preventive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 in the country. With the nationwide spread of the disease from March 2020, preventive measures were replaced by containment measures, including a lockdown from March. On 25 March, the Bundestag made the determination of an epidemic situation of national significance (:de:Epidemische Lage von nationaler Tragweite). This created a legal framework for the government of chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of the 16 German states to agree on nationwide pandemic restrictions. Implementation of decisions by that panel remained a matter of individual states, however, leading to differences in anti-pandemic rules and regulations across states. The (federal emergency brake) in force from April to June 2021 sought to establish uniformity.
The first months of fighting the pandemic were widely considered a success. This was seen by observers to have been due to a wide acceptance of the cautious course of Merkel, whose televised speech on 18 March was considered highly effective. Case numbers were decreasing to a degree that much of public life had returned to normal by late summer. This success was not repeated with the second wave of the pandemic, which saw daily new cases rise seven-fold over the course of October 2020 and resulted in a second lockdown from December 2020, and the third wave in the first months of 2021. Besides lockdown fatigue gaining ground, another reason was the approaching 2021 German federal election, in which CDU/CSU contenders for the succession of Merkel tried to draw contrasts, often with a less cautious approach to the pandemic than hers. The accelerating vaccination campaign was credited with overcoming the third wave.
The fourth wave of the pandemic from August 2021 led to record case numbers by November, while the severe cases and deaths among adults were far lower than in the previous waves due to the vaccinations. Before the formation of the Scholz cabinet in early December, observers saw anti-pandemic decision making as being hampered by the nature of the caretaker government of Merkel, while also saying that the government had since much earlier been overly hesitant to impose tough, unpopular decisions. With expiry of the epidemic situation of national significance in November 2021 a catalogue of measures was rolled out, including restrictions tied to the hospitalization rate. Booster shots were a central part of the government strategy against the Omicron variant. A partial vaccine mandate for health workers took effect in mid-March 2022, but a proposal for a vaccine mandate for all aged 60 and over was rejected in the Bundestag on 7 April, in what was seen by observers as a major setback for the government.
Many coronavirus measures faced legal challenges from individuals. In November 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court rejected a challenge against the in which several members of the FDP (Free Democrats) party had participated. The far-right populist AfD party also challenged several measures.
Advisory bodies During the pandemic, the German government received advice from several scientific bodies. They also collaborated on occasion: following a request by health minister Jens Spahn, the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) at the Robert Koch Institute, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and the German Ethics Council produced recommendations on 9November 2020 with criteria for how to prioritize the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
Other organizations and bodies besides the ones listed below also provided pandemic advisories for the government. The Helmholtz Association issued a statement on the pandemic in April 2020.
Robert Koch Institute On 27 February 2020, Lothar Wieler, President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), announced that there would be daily press briefings on the development of the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Wieler considered the situation still under control, although he considered it possible that this may change with a future outbreak. The RKI issued daily situation reports on the pandemic, including the number of newly reported cases and overall assessments. It also regularly published risk assessments, which were based on infectiousness; severity of the disease and incidence of long-term issues; and the burden on the health care systems. Information on all three criteria was sourced from Germany as well as abroad.
As part of the RKI, the vaccination commission STIKO issued recommendations on COVID-19 vaccines from late 2020, when vaccines first became available. In July 2021, as several politicians urged for a general vaccination recommendation for children and youths aged 12 to 17 years, STIKO chief Thomas Mertens called the pressure "counterproductive", and said that there were not yet enough data for an update of the recommendation.
On 15 January 2022, based on a revision of the Infection Protection Act that had been passed earlier that week, the RKI shortened the duration of validity of certificates of recovery from a coronavirus infection from six to three months. Health minister Lauterbach had not ordered the measure, nor been informed of it in advance, but supported it. Several politicians called for the shortening to be retracted in view of the confusion it would create, given that Germany had supported an EU-wide adherence to a six-month validity. Some also sharply criticized that the Bundestag parliament would continue to operate under the six-month rule. The revision of the Infection Protection Act was rescinded weeks after it came into effect.
The publication of internal RKI documents in March 2024, after a court ruling in favour of a smaller media organization which had sought to obtain them under freedom of information legislation, stoked renewed debate about the assessment of the government response to the pandemic.
German National Academy of Sciences Between March 2020 and November 2021, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina published ten ad hoc statements which addressed the impact of the pandemic from a multidisciplinary perspective. The statement published on 13 April 2020, which described steps for the reopening as the first wave of the pandemic began to ease, was described by Chancellor Angela Merkel before its release as "very important" for the further course to be taken by the government with regard to the pandemic.
German Ethics Council Between March 2020 and November 2022, the German Ethics Council published six ad hoc recommendations on the pandemic. In the sixth one published on 22 December 2021, a narrow majority, 13 out of 24, of council members supported expanding the vaccine mandate to all adults in Germany aged 18 and over. Chancellor Olaf Scholz later dropped plans for a general vaccine mandate.
In the 160-page recommendation presented on 4 April 2022, the council admonished that in the preceding two years of the pandemic, vulnerable groups had not been sufficiently in the focus of government efforts, and that especially institutions such as local health departments, nursing homes, and schools had been insufficiently prepared for a pandemic.
Corona expert panel Following an announcement by chancellor Scholz in late November 2021, just as his cabinet with a three-party traffic light coalition had been formed, the (corona expert panel) was established in December. Its task was to monitor the course of the pandemic and the danger coming from any virus variants. The panel, whose members were appointed by Scholz, included Christian Drosten, Hendrik Streeck, Thomas Mertens, Lothar Wieler, Melanie Brinkmann, Alena Buyx, and Viola Priesemann, of a total of 19 members. The panel had its first meeting on 14 December.
On 1 July 2022, the panel presented a report on the efficacy of government anti-pandemic measures. The report was also commissioned to shape the anti-pandemic measures which were expected to be necessary from autumn, when previous legislation would expire and coronavirus cases were expected to go up sharply. The report did not arrive at clear-cut recommendations, saying that lockdowns were effective in the early stage of the pandemic but had less effect later, and that face masks were effective but only so if properly fitted. The report also criticized the Robert Koch Institute for not having done enough to provide data for the study, and also pointed to time and staff limitations as reasons for the report not having been as comprehensive as would otherwise have been possible. In a 7 July Bundestag debate, health minister Lauterbach said: "It's sad that after two years we still do not get good daily data," and vowed to tackle that issue.
The panel met for the last time on 4 April 2023.
Corona crisis team On 28 February 2020, the German government announced the establishment of a new crisis team () tasked with combating the spread of COVID-19, which was to meet twice a week. The crisis team met nearly 100 times until November 2021, when chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz announced the creation of a successor body which would be larger, more influential, and advised by scientists. Outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel had already signaled her support for the new crisis team.
In line with these plans, a new Corona-Krisenstab was created on behest of the outgoing government of chancellor Merkel, and commenced its work in November 2021. Headed by Major General Carsten Breuer, the main tasks of the team were the coordination and cooperation in the steering of the vaccination campaign, and the delivery and distribution of vaccines. It had up to 30 members.
The crisis team was dissolved as per a government announcement on 11 May 2022. A government spokesperson explained this by what she called a "completely different situation" regarding infections and vaccinations. At the same time, she cautioned that the measure was by no means to be understood as signaling an end of the pandemic, as it would be "fully clear" that it was continuing.
Criteria for the adjustment of restrictions
From May 2020 until late 2021, the so-called "seven-day incidence" was the main criterion for determining restrictions to fight the pandemic. The seven-day incidence was measured at a locality (district, state or federal level) as the average number of new cases per 100,000 residents in the preceding seven days. At a videoconference of chancellor Angela Merkel and the 16 state governors on 6 May 2020, state governments were authorised to reimpose restrictions immediately in case of the seven-day incidence surpassing the threshold of 50. This measure, billed as "emergency brake", was intended to allow quick action against local outbreaks before the entire country would be affected. Starting from 14 September 2020, the RKI reported on the front page of its daily updates the countrywide seven-day incidence, as well as the number of districts with a seven-day incidence above 50; from 2 October 2020, the incidence was shown separately for those aged 60 and over, and from 28 December, also separately for those aged 80 and over. When imposing the new lockdown in early November 2020, the government stated that its goal was to reduce the seven-day incidence to about 50, as this would enable contact tracing. Additionally, in the January 2021 extension and toughening of the measures, a seven-day incidence of 200 or above triggered a travel ban for the affected district. Before the seven-day incidence was established as a key indicator, the effective reproduction number R played a major role in the public debate.