Germany is introducing tougher and "more targeted measures" to contain localized outbreaks of COVID-19 and the threat of a second wave.

New rules agreed by German states and the federal government on Thursday allow for travel bans in and out of affected areas to limit the spread of the virus. Anyone wanting to leave an affected area and stay elsewhere in the country must be able to show a negative coronavirus test that is less than 48 hours old.

Entire districts will also no longer be required to lock down in the case of a localized outbreak. Instead, quarantine and lockdown measures will be tightly limited to only targeted hotspots.

"Faster, smaller and more precise"

Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff, Helge Braun, said the goal was to fight the virus with "faster, smaller and more precise" curbs rather than larger, blanket lockdowns.

The meeting between federal and regional authorities came following confusion caused by Germany's first renewed lockdowns, which were imposed after a COVID-19 outbreak at a slaughterhouse last month in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the Gütersloh and neighboring Warendorf districts were affected, with many reporting they were refused travel accommodation outside the districts.

The measures come as Germany – which has been less affected by the pandemic than neighboring countries – seeks to ward off a second wave of coronavirus infections.

There are currently just over 200,000 COVID-19 cases in the country, which has a population of more than 82 million people, and just over 9,000 deaths. That's less than a quarter of the UK's toll.

But while overall numbers remain low, daily figures are slightly increasing. The Robert Koch Institute recorded 534 cases on Thursday, the highest amount so far in July, while the transmission rate of the virus has climbed above the key threshold of 1.0, to 1.10.

Pictures that emerged of German holidaymakers partying without face masks earlier this week led to stark warnings from ministers to remain vigilant.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said: "I have to say that the pictures we saw this weekend at Germany's most beloved island, Mallorca, worry me. 

"We have to make sure that the [beach restaurant] Ballermann doesn't turn into a new Ischgl, or as a synonym for a place where rules are not obeyed and where parties take place and people don't care about getting too close to each other. I must say I understand the impatience, but where there are parties, the infection risk is particularly high. Then people fly back and can infect all the other people on the plane as well as everybody back at home. That's why we have to try particularly now in the holiday season to prevent infections. 

"We don't automatically have to expect a second wave in the autumn and winter. Together, as a society, we can prevent that, as we did once before: breaking the wave and keeping the pandemic in check. We can do that again. I mainly rely on reason and not primarily on prohibitions."

Meanwhile, the first results of a study by Germany's infectious diseases agency on antibodies against COVID-19 among blood donors has shown a low immunity and suggests most Germans have not had contact with the virus.

Of around 12,000 blood samples tested by the Robert Koch Institute, antibodies were found in only 1.3 percent. Antibodies signal a person has already had the infection. Experts from the institute stressed the study is not representative of the entire population. But scientists say the results should serve as a warning to people that there is still a danger from the virus.

Hajo Zeeb, an epidemiologist at the University of Bremen, said: "This issue of herd immunity that we know in the UK and Sweden and so on, even here it's been on the agenda to think about as a concept, but really we are not anywhere close to this and we have basically 98 percent of the population still susceptible to becoming infected with the virus. Therefore, we need to be aware and not think, well, we are through with this until more and more people over many years become infected or a vaccination becomes available."

EU health ministers met on Thursday to discuss measures to prevent a second wave, including vaccination. They confirmed negotiations are under way, with industry and member states to access and develop vaccines across Europe as quick and as equally as possible.

Spahn said: "A second wave, which is not something impossible, will not arrive suddenly, but we will see it coming if we keep testing and if we are vigilant and alert. And my impression is, that's what we are in all 27 member states."

The EU is planning to spend around $2.3 billion on the advance purchase of vaccines in testing on behalf of its 27 member states.

EU countries are also pursuing their own initiatives, with Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands making a joint deal with drug maker AstraZeneca to buy upfront its vaccine under development.

Check out The Pandemic Playbook, CGTN Europe's major investigation into the lessons learned from COVID-19.