German Health Minister Says 3rd COVID Wave Broken

German health officials said Friday the nation has broken the third wave of COVID-19 infections, but cautioned the pandemic is far from over.

German Health Minster Jens Spahn, joined by Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases (RKI) President Lothar Wieler, said the nation as a whole — and most of Germany's 400 cities and counties — had weekly infection rates below the threshold of 100 per 100,000 inhabitants that triggered strict lockdown measures. Spahn credited German citizens for minding social guidelines and suffering through recurring lockdowns for progress that has been made. "It was exactly this combination of confidence and caution, vaccination and taking care of each other, which was important to break the third wave. We did it together.” Spahn said Germany’s vaccination program was progressing well, with about 40% of the German population having received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and about 13% fully vaccinated. He said the decline in coronavirus cases and the steady rise in vaccination rates were encouraging signs.