Germany plans to remove quarantine for cases of COVID-19

Currently, the number of people isolated with infection is four million.

According to existing regulations, people with COVID-19 must remain in quarantine for at least seven days.

But Health Minister Carl Lauterbach wants to change it to a five-day voluntary isolation with the recommendation of a COVID-19 test at the end of that period.

Under plans, drafted by his ministry and the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, health workers will have to be isolated for five days and have a negative test PCR to end their quarantine.

The proposals, which have not yet been discussed with authorities in Germany's 16 federal states, have emerged after COVID-19 cases increased in recent weeks, hitting personnel in hospitals and many other jobs.

Day numbers have fallen again in the last few days, with the latest report recording 274,901 new infections on Thursday. / REL