German federal and state governments reached an agreement on the 16th to relax the country's new crown epidemic prevention measures in three steps, but stressed that they would not cancel basic epidemic prevention measures such as wearing masks indoors and maintaining social distance. The agreement agreed that from now on, there will be no limit on the number of private parties if the participants are vaccinated or newly recovered. Across the country, everyone can enter retail stores without wearing masks. From March 4, the catering industry and hotel industry will be open to vaccinated people, rehabilitated people with new crown or those with negative test certificates of new crown on that day; Ballrooms and clubs will be open to vaccinated or rehabilitated persons who hold the negative test certificate of the new crown on that day and those who have been vaccinated with booster shots. From March 20, if medical resources permit, only basic epidemic prevention measures will be retained. According to the agreement, the relaxation policy will be specifically implemented by the federal states, but before taking each step, it is necessary to check whether it is in line with the epidemic at that time, and the states can only decide the opening steps in areas with no or only slight cross regional impact. German Chancellor Scholtz said after the consultation meeting on the same day that the epidemic caused by the poomicron virus strain may have reached its peak, and the epidemic is expected to improve steadily in the next few weeks. However, he stressed that "the epidemic is not over" and "vaccination helps protect people from the consequences of infection". In addition, the government should also be prepared for possible new virus variants. COVID-19 data released by the German Institute for Disease Control and prevention Robert Koch 16 showed that 219972 new confirmed cases were confirmed in Germany compared with the previous day, and 12800315 cases were confirmed. There were 247 new deaths and a total of 120467 deaths. As of that day, 74.9% of the people in Germany had completed the whole process of vaccination. (Xinhua News Agency)