Germany’s health minister is facing calls to resign over revelations that he meddled in independent assessments of the danger posed by Covid.

Karl Lauterbach blocked his public health agency from lowering the risk posed by Covid over a three-month period at the beginning of 2022, leaked emails have shown.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) initially wanted to reduce the risk posed by Covid from “very high” to “high” on Feb 3 2022, a week after the UK had rolled back restrictions in light of the spread of the less virulent Omicron variant.

But Mr Lauterbach blocked the reclassification, describing it as “problematic” and “sending the wrong signal”, an email exchange between the minister and the head of the RKI has shown.

The RKI’s assessments are intended to be independent of political interference.

Mr Lauterbach has previously denied meddling in the agency’s decisions.