Nationwide, people in numerous cities protested again on Monday evening against the corona policy and a possible vaccination requirement. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, around 15,000 people protested at 20 locations, in Thuringia around 17,300. In Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Saxony, the gatherings were also popular in some cases.
The demonstrations were largely peaceful, the police said. In Saxon Bautzen however, at least three police officers were injured. The officers were thrown with cobblestones and bottles. A total of around 500 people have moved through the city. Around 150 to 200 of them were violent hooligans and people from the radical right-wing milieu.
In Saxony, in Dresden, Zwickau, Görlitz, Chemnitz and Freiberg demonstrated against the corona policy. According to initial estimates, around 700 people who repeatedly evaded the police gathered in Freiberg, said a police spokesman. When the officers formed a lock with vehicles at one location, there was a breakthrough of about 100 people. A police vehicle was damaged. The spokesman said that there was an increased potential for violence. Here and there counter-protest also formed – for example in Leipzig, where almost 300 people gathered at the place that the opponents of the measure otherwise use.
In Rostock police used pepper spray as protesters tried to break barriers. In an unannounced protest march they moved in cottbus about 3000 people through the city center, including some right-wing extremists, as a police spokesman said.
In Cologne About 1,500 protesters took to the streets on Monday evening in Lübeck at two meetings almost 1300, in North Rhine-Westphalia Gummersbach around 1800, in Braunschweig around 500. In Koblenz and Mainz the police also reported on gatherings against the corona policy. In Fulda According to the police, up to 1000 people were traveling unannounced in Hesse, including in Wangen in the Allgäu gathered about 1000 people in Balingen hundreds of them in the Swabian Alb.
In Potsdam The police had banned a gathering of Corona critics in advance, but hundreds of people demonstrated in the city center on Monday evening. Also in Berlin was demonstrated in several places, according to the police, there were initially no major disruptions or clashes. (01/10/2022)
Vaccination centers are expected to remain operational until the end of the year
The duration of the vaccination centers throughout Germany is to be extended until the end of the year. The Saarland Minister of Health Monika Bachmann (CDU) announced. The Saarland submitted a corresponding application to the conference of health ministers on Monday, which was supported by the other countries. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) verbally promised the extension, said the ministry in Saarbrücken.
Now the state, districts and municipalities, but especially the employees of the vaccination centers, could plan reliably for the year 2022. “It would have been fatal to repeat the measures from the past and to suspend the funding prematurely,” said Bachmann. In the past few months one has seen how quickly the need can arise again.
The federal and state health ministers decided that in future people who have recovered from the coronavirus should only use a QR code to prove their status digitally. They also discussed a possible fourth vaccination, as it is already practiced in Israel. (01/10/2022)
Many companies see their existence threatened
About 14 percent of companies in Germany see their very existence threatened by the corona pandemic. The service sector and retail trade are particularly worried, according to a survey carried out by the Munich-based Ifo Institute in December. The value is similar to last June. In three other surveys in February 2021, as well as in November and June 2020, the concerns were even more pronounced with values between 17.6 and 21.8 percent.
The service sector is currently feeling the greatest threat at 20.4 percent – drivers include the travel and event industry as well as the hospitality industry. Here, more than half of the companies see themselves threatened, with travel agencies and tour operators the figure is as high as almost three quarters. In the retail sector, 17.1 percent rate themselves as endangered – a clear plus for the summer. “These are also the consequences of the reluctance of consumers,” said survey leader Klaus Wohlrabe. In contrast, construction with 5.1 percent and manufacturing with 5.7 percent are comparatively little affected. (01/10/2022)
Speaker: 80 percent of verified rapid tests recognize Omikron
A large part of the rapid antigen tests apparently also recognize the omicron variant. There is initial feedback from the Paul Ehrlich Institute that 80 percent of the rapid antigen tests that were checked had reliably detected the variant, said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health. The compilation of a complete list of rapid antigen tests with reliable Omicron detection is still ongoing. (01/10/2022)
Clinical staff are absent en masse across Europe because of Omikron
Because of the increasing Omikron infection rates, hospital staff is becoming scarce in many European countries. “With Omikron, we have to treat more patients but have fewer staff,” said Stephen Powis, medical director for the NHS in the UK. Operations that are not urgently needed are being postponed in many places.
In Spain, the personnel situation in hospitals is so tight that nursing staff are being pulled back from retirement. The authorities also said that the contact tracking in the health authorities could no longer be sufficiently carried out.
In the Netherlands, hospitals are considering letting people with symptom-free corona infection continue to work. At the Amsterdam University Clinic, every fourth employee had recently tested positive, it said. A week ago, the positive rate was five percent.
In Italy, the situation is tense anyway, with around four percent of hospital workers suspended from work because they are not vaccinated. The health authorities there are therefore urging that unnecessary operations be postponed. Nursing staff and doctors have to postpone their vacations. (01/10/2022)
Nationwide incidence rises to 375.7
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has again reported an increase in the nationwide seven-day incidence. The RKI gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Monday morning at 375.7. For comparison: the previous day the value was 362.7. A week ago the nationwide incidence was 232.4 (previous month: 389.2).
The health authorities in Germany reported 25,255 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. A week ago there were 18,518 infections, although there were gaps in tests and reports over the course of the holidays. According to the new information, 52 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 68 deaths.
The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was given by the RKI on Friday as 3.15 (Thursday: 3.26). The value is not reported on the weekend. (01/10/2022)
Coronavirus in Germany – Lauterbach considers further restrictions to be inevitable
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach considers further restrictions in the fight against the Omikron variant to be inevitable. The decisions made on Friday by the federal and state governments are “a very important step forward,” said the SPD politician on the ARD program “Report from Berlin”. But: “That won’t be enough to defeat Omikron,” says Lauterbach. “Therefore further measures will be necessary in due course.” Above all, there is reason to believe that unvaccinated people with Omikron could get more seriously ill. The minister added: “A contamination would be far too risky.”
He assumes that the new corona quarantine rules will come into effect quickly. The rules would be implemented by the federal states. “It will vary a little from country to country, but it will apply very quickly.” It is expected that the omicron variant of the Coronavirus leads to high numbers of infections and many people have to be in quarantine as contact persons. So that public life does not collapse, the federal and state governments agreed on Friday to shorten the quarantine and the isolation of infected people and contact persons.
Lauterbach explained that it was still unclear how reliable the current tests are for the Omikron variant. “We do not know exactly how well these tests work for Omikron,” says the SPD politician of the ARD. This will now be checked carefully and a result will be available in the coming weeks. It is clear, however, that the “alternative not to test at all … would be far too dangerous”. It is known from studies that the tests at the beginning of an omicron infection are not as reliable, but are very reliable at the end. Therefore, it is relatively safe to test yourself out of quarantine after the specified period. (09.01.2022)