Germany considers ditching mandatory face mask rule

Indoor face coverings could be dropped in areas with few cases and high vaccination rate

Pedestrians wear masks on a street in Cologne, Germany. Bloomberg 

Germany will consider loosening face mask rules as the country has recorded its lowest Covid-19 infection rate in months.

Health minister Jens Spahn said the first stage would be to lift mask requirements outdoors, where they are compulsory on some busy streets.

Mandatory mask-wearing could be gradually dropped indoors in areas with low infection numbers and high vaccination rates, Mr Spahn said.

“With falling incidence rates, we could proceed in stages.”

Wearing a face mask is currently compulsory on public transport and in shops, schools and indoor public spaces.

But a sharp drop in infection rates in recent weeks has allowed Germany to ease many other restrictions.

The rate fell on Tuesday to 15.5 cases per 100,000 people in a week, the country's lowest figures since October.

Restaurants, bars and non-essential shops are now open after months of closure.

Vaccines lift mood 

Germany's vaccination campaign has picked up after a slow start, with nearly half of adults injected at least once.

About 27 per cent of Germans are fully vaccinated, Mr Spahn said.

Justice minister Christine Lambrecht called on German regions to examine whether mask requirements were still "appropriate" to their local situation.

Divi, an association of intensive care doctors, said it had nothing against the proposal.

“Now that we’re in summer we’re spending a lot of time in the open air and infection rates are falling,” Divi president Gernot Marx said.

“And the most important thing is that more and more people have been vaccinated with one or two doses.”

In another sign of progress, Germany will lift its pandemic travel warning for most countries from July 1.

Berlin is also distributing a digital vaccination pass to allow people to show they are immunised.

Germany's neighbour Denmark lifted its rules on mask-wearing on Monday, except on public transport.

Restrictions, however, will remain in place for countries such as Britain, where variants of the virus remain in circulation.