In order to cope with the severe challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic，the German government responded quickly by improving its public health system i. a. regarding legal issues，emergency decision-making，labor and the medical service system. It also adopted a series of measures regarding public health governance，such as issuing travel warnings to cut off imported sources of infection；implementing contact restrictions and closing borders；introducing the requirement to wear masks，the “AHA”-rules（“Abstand，Hygiene，Alltagsmaske”；“distance，hygiene，everyday mask”）and the Corona Warning App；increasing strategic reserves of medical supplies；increasing investment in research and development of COVID-19 vaccines，etc. In the early stages of the pandemic，Germany appeared to restrain it effectively. But as the pandemic continued to escalate and spread in the second half of 2020，the public health system revealed several problems and displayed its limitations.