Due to a major corona outbreak in Shanghai, the authorities are imposing a lockdown on the Chinese port city of 26 million people. A curfew is in effect from early Monday morning to Friday in a part of the city east of the Huangpu River. At the same time, mass tests are ordered. From Friday to April 5, there is a similar curfew for those areas of the city west of the Huangpu River.
Public transport, ferries and taxis are no longer operating during the lockdown. Companies have to switch to home office or work with staff who live on a closed factory site. The radical step is taken because of the rapidly increasing number of infections. On Saturday, 47 diseases and 2631 corona cases without symptoms were reported in Shanghai. So far, authorities have avoided major curfews, only temporarily sealing off individual neighborhoods for mass testing. The step that has now been announced is also surprising because officials ruled out a lockdown in the metropolis on Saturday because of the far-reaching effects on the economy.
China has been pursuing a zero-Covid strategy, which has been severely tested by the more contagious omicron variant since the beginning of the year. Until then, the authorities had successfully combated minor outbreaks with curfews, mass testing, contact tracing and quarantine. (03/27/2022)
RKI reports incidence of 1723
The nationwide seven-day incidence fell slightly from around 1758 to 1723 compared to the previous day. The health authorities in Germany reported 111,224 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute within one day. A week ago there were 131,792 infections. According to the new information, 49 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours.
However, the figures are only of limited significance. Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. Test capacities and health authorities are at the limit in many places, contacts are only traced to a limited extent. That is why we use the SZ Corona Dashboard to show an average value from the reports of the past seven days, which is intended to compensate for fluctuations from day to day. You can find more information on this in the transparency blog, further data and graphics on the pandemic here. (03/27/2022)
Lauterbach: Stiko should revise vaccination recommendations
In the federal press conference, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach appealed in particular to older people to be vaccinated again. “We have to be more aggressive with the fourth vaccination,” said Lauterbach. This is currently recommended by the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) for people over 70 years of age. Of these, however, 90 percent have not yet been vaccinated for the fourth time. That was “unsatisfactory”. So far, only 1.7 million have received this second booster vaccination, said Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute.
The Minister of Health demanded that people over the age of 60 who belong to risk groups also have to be approached. He therefore asked the Stiko to revise their recommendation for the fourth vaccination. The Stiko promised that.
Because of the high number of infections, Lauterbach said: The risk of becoming infected now and having a severe course or even death is “higher than ever”. There can be no question of a “Freedom Day”. The Minister of Health appealed to the federal states to now implement regulations according to the amended Infection Protection Act, which are regionally possible for so-called hotspots in critical situations. An overburdening of the healthcare system that can be determined for this purpose can be measured by specific criteria – for example, if operations that can be planned have to be postponed or patients have to be transferred. Lauterbach reiterated that hotspots can also cover an entire federal state in this way.
At a conference of health ministers on Monday, talks should be held with the federal states in order to make this regulation workable. The infection protection law amended by the traffic light coalition has met with widespread protest from the federal states. After a transition period until April 2nd, they can impose some further restrictions with more mask requirements and access rules for regional hotspots if the state parliament determines a critical situation for them. (03/25/2022)
Omicron subtype BA.2 clearly dominates the course of infection
The spread of the even more easily transmissible omicron subtype BA.2 in Germany has continued. According to the latest available data for the week before last, their share in a sample was around 72 percent, down from around 64 percent previously, according to the new weekly report from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Thursday evening. Currently, the variant is therefore likely to have an even larger share in the infection process. Meanwhile, the role of the previously dominant omicron sublineage BA.1 is diminishing.
For the past calendar week, the RKI stated that more than 1.5 million corona cases had been reported for the first time. BA.2 is considered a driver of the current infection process – in addition to easing and changes in behavior among the population, as the authors of the report suspect. They emphasized how important it is that larger parts of the population continue to behave prudently – and underlined the benefits of the vaccination despite Omikron.
In particular, risk groups and people over the age of 70 called on the RKI to protect themselves against a serious illness with a second booster vaccination, in accordance with the recommendation of the Standing Vaccination Commission – which had already been pronounced at the beginning of February. Around 1.67 million people have used it so far, according to the report.
Although the incidences in the age group from five to 44 years were particularly high last week, the strongest increase was observed in seniors from 75 to 79 years, it said. Outbreaks in retirement and nursing homes have increased in recent weeks. “The increase in severe disease progression particularly affects the 80+ age group.” (03/25/2022)
Australia offers fourth vaccination for vulnerable groups
Australia will offer a fourth corona vaccination for the most vulnerable population groups from April. Anyone over the age of 65, all Indigenous Australians over the age of 50 and severely immunocompromised people who have been vaccinated at least four months ago can get the vaccine. In Australia, 95 percent of those over the age of 16 have been vaccinated at least twice. Almost 67 percent have received a third dose or booster shot. (03/25/2022)