The highest penalty is reserved for shop owners who do not ensure that their employees are wearing the required mouth-and-nose coverings, under measures set to come into effect on Monday.

People who go into shops or travel on public transport without such a mask will face fines of 150 euros, as set out in an updated catalogue of fines.

All 16 of Germany’s federal states are making face coverings mandatory in public to varying degrees in a bid to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. Most such measures enter into force next week.

In Bavaria, Germany’s worst-hit state, with almost 40,000 cases of infection and more than 1,500 deaths, the rules apply to anyone aged 6 and above. A scarf is also permitted as a face covering.

Nationwide, there have been around 150,000 cases recorded in Germany and at least 5,265 deaths, according to a dpa tally.

The country gradually began easing restrictions this week, with retailers allowed to reopen and some pupils gradually returning to school, although Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged caution and said the country’s progress in fighting the virus is “fragile.”

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas hailed a major operation to bring stranded German tourists back home, after the last aeroplane of returnees for now arrived in the country.

Maas told dpa it was an “unprecedented feat” involving more than 2,000 Foreign Office staff – a third of the ministry’s workforce – who have worked day and night to bring back 240,000 people during the past five weeks.

He estimated that there were still “several hundred” German nationals abroad who are looking to come home.