In view of the challenges posed by the pandemic, the federal and state health ministers will discuss this Saturday afternoon at a special desk. The exact agenda is still unclear, but it will be about the general corona development and the supply of vaccines, said a spokeswoman for the Bavarian Ministry of Health, which chairs the conference of health ministers.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) recently sounded the alarm about the expected vaccine delivery quantities for the first quarter of 2022. He therefore wants to buy more cans on a large scale, and 35 million doses of the Moderna preparation should arrive earlier than originally planned.
Lauterbach expects a massive fifth corona wave because of the omicron variant. This wave, which can no longer be prevented, will be a “massive challenge for our hospitals, for our intensive care units, but also for society as a whole,” said the minister in Hanover on Friday. He spoke to British experts. Germany, too, has to adjust to a situation “which we have not yet had in this form.”(18.12.2021)
Fewer new infections, incidence drops to 321.8
The nationwide seven-day incidence fell again compared to the previous day. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in one week at 321.8. On Friday the value was 331.8, a week ago it was 402.9.
The health authorities in Germany reported 42 813 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. Exactly one week ago there were 53,697 infections. Across Germany, 414 deaths were recorded within 24 hours. A week ago there were 510 deaths.
The number of reported infections has been falling for almost three weeks. However, due to the more contagious Omicron variant, experts fear an imminent trend reversal. In view of the high load on the intensive care units and the impending wave of Omikron, the number of new infections is not falling sharply or quickly enough, the RKI warned in its weekly report on Thursday. The burden on hospitals and intensive care units remains high. Most of the hospital admissions are in the age groups over 60 years. According to the RKI, calculations indicate that the hospitalization rate is stabilizing at a high level. (18.12.2021)
Clinics: The situation will be aggravated if Omikron prognoses are confirmed
According to the German Hospital Association (DKG), the situation at the clinics in Germany could worsen significantly if the prognoses for the Omikron variant of the coronavirus are confirmed. If these are much more contagious than Delta and the severity of the courses are comparable, in the worst case you will have to deal with a large number of seriously ill patients at the same time, said DKG boss Gerald Gass. “For the hospitals, this would be a further aggravated situation that goes beyond everything that we have experienced so far.”
Gaß called on politicians to analyze the findings on Omikron from other countries “very carefully” and, if the fears were confirmed, to take countermeasures “very early” with contact restrictions. “We must then not lose any time, then we have to act immediately, even before the numbers go up in Germany and an overload of the hospitals can no longer be prevented.” (18.12.2021)
Bas for vaccination register – Kühnert against it
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) calls for a national vaccination register. She criticized in the World on sundaythat there is still too little data available about the corona pandemic. The health authorities do not know specifically “how many infections there are exactly. Or how the exact status of the vaccinations is. We assume up to 90 percent of the nursing staff are vaccinated, but these are estimates,” said Bas. “We need exact numbers,” she urged.
There is no such vaccination register in Germany. For the Covid-19 vaccinations, the data is collected from the vaccination centers and vaccinating practices and processed by the Robert Koch Institute so that the vaccination rates are known nationwide and regionally.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert rejects the collection of vaccination data. “Even if it is limited to the data from the corona vaccination, I see the fundamental risk that such a step will open the door for access to further data,” Kühnert told the newspapers of the editorial network in Germany. “I also don’t see how the completely overloaded health authorities are supposed to administer it.”
From the middle of March 2022, a vaccination is to apply for staff in the healthcare sector and in care facilities. The Bundestag also wants to deal with the question of whether a general compulsory corona vaccination should be introduced in order to increase vaccination rates.
Bas and Kühnert said that a number of questions had to be clarified beforehand. In particular, the goals of compulsory vaccination must be clear and they must be very well prepared. “What use is it if there is not enough vaccine available,” asked the President of the Bundestag, “or the vaccine remains ineffective with a certain virus variant?” Kühnert said: “I do not see it as certain that the vaccination will actually come in the end.”
For the designated CDU chairman Friedrich Merz, the question arises how a compulsory vaccination should be enforced: “In my opinion, the question of the implementation of such a law is at least as important as the discussion of the obligation as such.” (18.12.2021)
Habeck brings government guarantees for vaccines into play
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck wants to boost vaccine production for the next winter. State purchase guarantees could help stabilize production in the longer term, said the Green politician in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. “The point is to store the next generation of vaccines in time for the next winter.” But that doesn’t help in the short term. (18.12.2021)
RKI classifies Denmark and France as high risk areas
The federal government has classified France and Denmark as high-risk areas from Sunday onwards due to the high number of corona infections. In both countries, the number of new corona infections had recently skyrocketed. The new classification also applies to Norway, Lebanon and Andorra, as the Robert Koch Institute announced. Anyone who enters from a high-risk area and is not fully vaccinated or recovered has to be in quarantine for ten days and can only get rid of it with a negative test five days after arrival at the earliest.
With the exception of Luxembourg, all of Germany’s neighboring countries will be classified as high-risk areas in the future. Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Albania, North Macedonia and Moldova will be removed from the risk list. The classification as a high-risk area is automatically accompanied by a travel warning from the Federal Foreign Office for unnecessary tourist trips. It makes it easier for tourists to cancel trips that have already been booked free of charge, but does not mean a travel ban.
Countries and regions with a particularly high risk of infection are classified as high-risk areas. But it is not just the infection numbers that are decisive. Other criteria are the speed at which the virus is spreading, the burden on the health system or a lack of data on the corona situation.
In the meantime, there were no corona high-risk areas in the European Union in late summer. In the past few weeks, however, numerous EU countries have already been put back on the list. In total, more than 50 countries are wholly or partially listed as high-risk areas by the RKI. There are also eight virus variant areas in Africa, for which even stricter entry restrictions apply. They had been classified in the highest risk category because of the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Bavaria’s Minister of Health, Klaus Holetschek, had already asked the federal government before the decision of the RKI to classify Great Britain as a virus variant area because of the rapidly spreading Omikron variant there. In an interview with RTL and n-tv, the CSU politician referred to the fact that the numbers in Great Britain were increasing “vehemently”. Therefore, according to Holetschek, a PCR test should be presented upon entry. (17.12.2021)