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Temporary curfew due to the Corona pandemic (March 20, 2020)

Implementation of the Infection Protection Act (IfSG)

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has spread worldwide in a short period of time Every effort must be made to prevent further spread.

On the basis of the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Women and Family for infection protection measures to be ordered nationwide in accordance with § 54 of the Infection Protection Act (IfSG) in conjunction with § 1 para. 2 of the Ordinance on the Responsibilities under the Infection Protection Act of 12 September 2016 (AmtsBl. I p. 856), the following is issued on the basis of § 28 para. 1 sentence 2 IfSG in agreement with the Ministry of the Interior, Building and Sport

General ruling

1. Everyone is encouraged to reduce physical and social contact with other people outside the members of their own household to an absolute minimum. Wherever possible, a minimum distance between two persons of 2 m must be maintained.
2. Restaurants according to the Saarland Restaurant Act and other catering establishments of any kind are prohibited. Excluded is the pick-up and delivery of takeaway food.
3. Leaving one’s own home is only permitted if there are good reasons.
4. Good reasons are in particular:
   • the exercise of professional activities, the use of emergency care or the passing of examinations,
   • the use of medical and veterinary care (e.g. visits doctors, medical treatment; blood donations are expressly permitted) and visits to members of the assisting professions where this is medically necessary (e.g. psycho- and physiotherapists)
   • supply routes for the elementary basic needs of daily life (e.g. going to grocery stores, weekly markets, beverage markets, pet shops, DIY stores, garden centres, mail and packet shipping businesses, pharmacies, drugstores, medical supply stores, opticians, hearing aid acousticians, banks and ATMs, post offices, petrol stations, car repair shops, dry cleaners and laundries, newspaper kiosks). Shop owners must take precautions to ensure that the minimum distance is maintained both inside the business premises and on the outside premises.
   • visiting life partners, the elderly, the sick or people with disabilities (outside facilities) and exercising custody in the relevant private area,
   • the accompaniment and assistance of vulnerable persons and minors,
   • accompanying the dying, and funerals within the immediate family circle,
   • Sport and exercise in the open air without group formation over 5 persons,
   • making urgent appointments with authorities, courts, bailiffs, lawyers and notaries,
   • the holding of meetings by honorary members of organs of institutions, corporations and foundations under public law,
   • individual silent contemplation in churches, mosques, synagogues and houses of other faith communities A distance of two metres must also be observed here.
   • actions for the care of animals.
5. Other shop premises of tradespeople whose entry is necessary for the receipt of services or work are closed to the public. The provision of the service or work outside the shop premises is permitted.
6. The regulatory authorities are required to monitor compliance with the curfew. In the event of a control, the person concerned must provide credible reasons.
7. An offence against this general ruling can be punished according to § 75 paragraph 1 No. 1, paragraph 3 of the infection protection law.
8. This general ruling shall enter into force on 21 March 2020, the day after its announcement, and shall be valid up to and including 03 April 2020.
9. So far
   • the general order of the Ministry of Health, Social Affairs, Women and Family to close day-care centres, large day-care centres for children and curative day-care centres and events and gatherings of a larger number of people
   • and/or
   • the general ruling of the Ministry of Health, Social Affairs, Women and Family and the Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection on the implementation of the Infection Protection Act (IfSG) and the Shop Opening Act (LÖG SL) of 16 March 2020 on the event and operating bans on the occasion of the Corona pandemic contain deviating provisions, such provisions shall cease to apply upon the entry into force of this general ruling.
10. This general ruling is immediately enforceable.
11. The police force shall be available for administrative assistance; the tasks of averting danger according to the Saarland Police Act shall remain unaffected and shall continue to exist.

Stephan Kolling
State Secretary

Christian Seel
State Secretary

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More Info: https://www.saarland.de/SID-13D62E75-7214DFAC/254312.htm

Dear students of the Computer Science department,
As you might have read, the university is going to be closed, effective tomorrow, Tuesday 17 March, as a response to the pandemic. The official message from the University President is copied below. With this e-mail, we would like to inform you about how the closing affects exams and ongoing courses.

• Classroom teaching and study will not take place until 04 May 2020 in order to counteract the further spread of the coronavirus. If you participate in an ongoing course or seminar, your instructor will inform you whether the course will transition to an online format.
• Examinations that require the student’s attendance at the university will not take place at least until 24 April 2020. This implies that all written exams will be postponed to a later date. In due time, the instructors of courses with postponed exams will contact their students with updates on rescheduling of the exam.
• In urgent individual cases, the examiners may decide in agreement with the students concerned whether an oral examination may be conducted via video conference. Please contact the instructor of a given course if your individual case does not allow you to wait for the results of an exam that is re-scheduled at a date after 24 April.
• The processing times of ongoing qualification papers (such as term papers, Bachelor’s thesis, Master’s thesis, state examination thesis) will be adjusted. I.e., your deadline for submission of your thesis will be postponed according to the closing period. If you want to submit a thesis during the closing, please send an electronic version in PDF format to the examination office and to your reviewers. You will have to hand in the written copies, following the usual procedure, after re opening of the university.

Regarding the upcoming summer semester, we have the following important information for you:

• The start of courses has been postponed to Monday, May 4th.
• We expect that the same set of courses will be offered as during a regular summer semester. Courses might be offered using online formats, rather than in a presence mode, at least during the first weeks of the new semester.
• In response to the delayed start of the course time, instructors might offer online materials before May 4th that you can use for preparation while the university is closed. If so, you can find these materials on the course’s web page that is linked through LSF.
• Like in this semester, you can use the SIC seminar assignment system to register for seminars. The system will be available for students starting from April 7th. The deadline for registration is April 17th.
• As of now, we expect that exams for courses in the summer semester will be scheduled at the usual periods during the summer term break.
• We are aware of the problems that the current situation is generating for incoming international students. We are working on a solution for freshmen enrolment. In case of questions, please directly contact the Studierendensekretariat or Welcome Center: https://www.uni-saarland.de/studium/beratung/studierendensekretariat.html (German only)https://www.uni-saarland.de/en/global/welcome-center.html (in English)

For further updates, please regularly check:  

• Corona-related updates of Saarland Informatics Campus: http://bit.ly/enCoronaSIC
• Corona-related updates of Saarland University: https://www.uni-saarland.de/en/page/coronavirus.html
• and information posted on webpages of courses that you took this winter semester or courses you plan to take in the summer semester.

Should you have questions, please always check these resources first, to avoid overburdening our study coordinators! Otherwise please contact the study coordinators via e-mail.

These are our commitments during the Covid 19 pandemic. By joining forces and acting calmly, informed and responsibly, we can contribute our share to slow down the spread of the virus. #FlattenTheCurve!
Keep in mind: The fewer people fall ill at the same time, the better the people affected can be treated in our hospitals. This is why the infection curve must be lowered as much as possible in an effort to reduce the mortality rate by giving our health system enough time to care for and heal the patients. Physical Isolation is the most effective measure to contain the pandemic and the best way to reduce the infection rate. So, if possible, stay at home! Reduce contact with people outside your family or direct household to the absolute minimum and only leave your home if absolutely necessary.

The Department of Computer Science at Saarland University hopes that everyone will remain healthy and safe throughout the corona situation and that we will soon be reunited in our familiar university setting.
Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Prof. Dr Jürgen Steimle (Vice Dean of Study Affairs)
Dr. Tanja Breinig (Study Coordinator)

1) The start of lectures in the coming summer semester will be postponed from April 6 to May 4, 2020 without the lecture period being extended.

2) People with residence or permanent residence in the risk areas of the coronavirus identified by the Robert Koch Institute (https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/InfAZ/N/Neuartiges_Coronavirus/Risikogebiete.html), last expanded to include French region of Grand Est, access to the university’s locations is not permitted until further notice. Persons returning from one of the risk areas continue to be required to be absent for 14 days from the university’s locations.

3) The examination office and the study coordination of the Computer Science Programmes and the GradSchool will only offer personal consultation if it is absolutely necessary. The regular office hours will not take place until further notice. Matters and possible appointments should be discussed via email or phone (see contacts on www.ps-mint.uni-saarland.de) for the examination office or via mail (studium@cs.uni-saarland.de) for the study coordination. After this, you will be informed about further procedure.

You will find a summary of the most frequently asked questions and answers (FAQ) on the topic on the UdS website. You are welcome to send inquiries and comments to krisenstab@uni-saarland.de.