Due to the increasing number of corona infections, the federal government is classifying Crete and other Greek holiday islands as high-risk areas from Tuesday. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), “the regions of Crete and the southern Aegean” are affected. (A list of the high risk areas can be found here.)
According to estimates by the German Travel Association (DRV), there are currently around 150,000 package holidaymakers from Germany in Greece. In addition, there is an unknown number of individual travelers. The country is also one of the top destinations around the Mediterranean this year. Islands such as Crete, Rhodes and Corfu are particularly popular.
As early as Sunday, the Canary Islands and Catalonia with the tourist metropolis of Barcelona and the beaches of the Costa Brava will be removed from the list of high-risk areas, as the RKI announced.
Since August 1st, according to the RKI, there has been a general obligation to provide evidence, according to which people from the age of twelve need a negative test result, proof of vaccination or proof of recovery to enter the country. If you have stayed in a high-risk area in the last ten days before entering the country, you are required to register. In addition, a test, vaccination or recovery certificate must be available and uploaded to the entry portal.
In principle, quarantine at home applies after returning, which can, however, be ended prematurely if one of the three documents is uploaded to the entry portal. Testing can be carried out five days after entry at the earliest. Vaccinated and convalescent people can end the quarantine as soon as they have uploaded the proof, they do that before entering the quarantine does not have to be entered. (08/20/2021)
NRW has the highest incidence in Germany
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the number of reported corona cases per 100,000 inhabitants and week continues to rise. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the seven-day incidence as of Friday morning is 83.4. The day before, the health authorities had registered 71.6 new infections. Within one day, 4008 new corona infections were added, and six new deaths related to the corona virus were reported.
In the meantime, 14 districts or urban districts have exceeded the weekly incidence of 100 again: Leverkusen are at the top with 149.6, Wuppertal with 130.9 and Bielefeld with 130.5. Only Kleve was below the value of 35 with 30.7.
The role of incidence, which was previously the basis for many corona restrictions, has now changed. In the new Corona Protection Ordinance that will apply from this Friday, a seven-day incidence of 35 remains the only code from which the “3-G rules” (vaccinated, recovered or tested) apply to visits to indoor restaurants, for example. (08/20/2021)
Spahn is considering offering a booster to everyone
Health Minister Jens Spahn is considering offering all citizens a Corona booster vaccination. The countries are now gradually starting the so-called booster vaccinations in the care facilities and for particularly vulnerable people, he told the editorial network Germany (RND). In addition, those who had previously only received vector vaccines could be vaccinated again. “In a second step, we can then think about offering everyone else a booster,” said the minister.
“A booster vaccination is covered by the approvals, it strengthens and extends the vaccination protection,” he explained. Sufficient vaccine is also available. In his own words, Spahn mainly relies on the doctor’s offices for the booster vaccinations. Many vaccination centers went on standby in late September, he said. “But the doctor’s offices are still there. They alone managed up to five million vaccinations a week.”
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach expects a significant increase in so-called vaccination breakthroughs. “Breakthrough infections occur in people whose corona vaccination was more than six months ago,” he tells the newspapers of the Funke media group. With all corona vaccines, the risk of a vaccination breakthrough increases after six months. Lauterbach also expressed concern about the possible consequences of such vaccination breakthroughs: “According to a new study, 19 percent of people with vaccination breakthroughs have a long-covid problem.” (08/20/2021)
RKI registers 9,280 new corona infections – incidence at 48.8
The seven-day incidence continues to rise. According to the Robert Koch Institute on Friday morning, it was 48.8 – the previous day the value was 44.2, a week ago it was 30.1. The health authorities in Germany reported 9,280 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. This is evident from the figures that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 4:06 a.m. A week ago, the value for Germany was 5578 infections. (08/20/2021)
RKI: The fourth wave has started
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the fourth wave of the corona pandemic has started in Germany. The proportion of positive samples under the PCR tests in laboratories had risen from four to six percent within a week by mid-August, it says in the institute’s latest weekly report. Younger age groups are particularly affected by infections. “This clearly shows the beginning of the fourth wave, which is picking up speed, particularly due to infections among the young adult population,” the report says.
The RKI continues to rate the risk to the health of people who have not yet been vaccinated or have only been vaccinated once in Germany as high overall. For fully vaccinated people, the researchers rate it as moderate. Since the beginning of July there has been an increase in the incidence in Germany, especially in the age groups of ten to 49 year olds, according to the analysis. A similar increase in this population group was observed in summer 2020 – but only five weeks later, i.e. from the end of September to the beginning of October. At that time there was no vaccination protection. So far this summer, the more contagious Delta variant has dominated – now 99 percent.
The RKI’s weekly report appears with a time delay. Most of the results in the most recent analysis relate to data from the first week of August. (08/20/2021)
Drosten: Most of them do not need a booster vaccination in autumn
According to the virologist Christian Drosten, no booster vaccination will be necessary in autumn for the majority of those vaccinated. “The protective effect of the corona vaccine is much better than, for example, the influenza vaccines,” he told the German press agency. Drosten does not expect a new virus variant that is resistant to the available vaccines to appear anytime soon.
For old people and certain high-risk patients, Drosten believes that a booster vaccination this autumn makes sense. “After six months, the antibody level acquired through the vaccination goes down significantly, especially in very old people.” In special situations such as retirement homes, a refresher is therefore conceivable. In terms of numbers, this would hardly conflict with the international shortage of vaccines. For the rest of the population, an age level may be defined at some point, from which a booster vaccination makes sense. “This autumn, however, it is important to first close the vaccination gaps among those over 60 years of age.” (08/19/2021)
Pediatricians are critical of school vaccinations
The professional association of paediatricians has criticized the plans of several federal states to vaccinate children and adolescents in and around schools. “The young people in the schools are very much under peer pressure, so that a free and independent decision is difficult,” said the federal spokesman for the association, the pediatrician Jakob Maske, the editorial network Germany (RND). Mask instead advised vaccination in practices: “Vaccinating your own pediatrician has the advantage that the doctor knows the family and the environment well and can advise parents better on whether the vaccination makes sense for the family or not. “
After the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) made a recommendation to vaccinate children and adolescents, vaccination campaigns for this age group have started or are being planned in several federal states, for example with mobile vaccination teams at schools, “family vaccination days” in vaccination centers or vaccinations in leisure facilities or animal parks.
The Association of Education and Upbringing (VBE) joins the pediatricians’ criticism. Although the Stiko vaccination recommendation is generally welcomed, an informed decision by the affected children and their parents is better possible with the family doctor or pediatrician. “We think it is questionable whether this can be achieved if the vaccination takes place in mobile vaccination vehicles in front of the school,” said the association chairman Udo Beckmann. He also warns of possible conflicts if parents or young people who are against a vaccination see themselves harassed by the presence of vaccination teams. “It helps, of course, that we have more security in schools if the twelve to 17-year-olds also get vaccinated, but voluntariness has to be maintained,” said Beckmann of the German press agency.
The German Teachers’ Association, however, endorsed the plans to carry out vaccinations in schools. “Anything that quickly increases safety in schools is good,” said association boss Heinz-Peter Meidinger to the RND. “It is absolutely clear that a high vaccination rate for schoolchildren is probably the most important building block for more health protection in schools during the pandemic and thus ultimately for a speedy return to normal school operations.” In his own words, he does not share the fear that conflicts could be carried into the schools and that group pressure could be exerted on pupils who are not willing to vaccinate or their parents. There are ways to organize vaccinations in such a way that school operations are barely affected and the necessary anonymity and voluntariness are absolutely preserved, said Meidinger. (08/19/2021)