The nationwide seven-day incidence is rising again after falling for three days in a row. On Thursday, the prime ministers of the federal states, together with the executive and, in all likelihood, future Federal Chancellor, decided on new measures to combat corona. So far, four cases of the new omicron variant of the virus have been reported to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Against this background, the Managing Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) and the President of the RKI, Lothar Wieler, provide information about the current Corona situation. It will probably be their last joint press conference, as the future traffic light coalition plans to start the new government next week. It is not yet clear who will take over from Spahn’s health minister.
Klingbeil calls on countries to implement measures
SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil rates the Corona measures decided by the Prime Minister’s Conference as a good “common path that we can take”. The federal states would now also have to implement the measures. In the ZDF morning magazine, he promised that the Infection Protection Act in the Bundestag would be sharpened by the traffic light parties in order to give the states more options for action.
At the same time, Klingbeil emphasized again that, in his opinion, the countries already have all options for a tougher pandemic fight in their hands. He referred to the soccer game at 1. FC Köln with 50,000 spectators last Saturday. The NRW state government could have prevented that. It was not the case that there was no legal basis for such a decision.
Klingbeil said that he also thought it would make sense if the partial vaccination requirement for nursing staff, for example, came into effect from mid-March. “If that means that from the end of February, beginning of March, the double proof of vaccination must be available, that is a point in time when the whole thing can also be implemented.” At the Prime Minister’s Conference, the federal and state governments also agreed on a job-related partial vaccination requirement for staff in facilities with particularly vulnerable people. The Bundestag should decide on this in the coming week. (03.12.2021)
The incidence in Germany is rising again
The Robert Koch Institute reports 74 352 new infections in Germany within 24 hours. That is 2062 fewer cases than the 76 414 reported on Friday a week ago. The seven-day incidence is rising again, from 439.2 the previous day to 442.1. The value indicates how many people per 100,000 population have contracted the coronavirus in the past seven days. 390 other people died within a day related to the virus. This increases the number of all previously reported deaths to 102,568. In total, more than six million corona tests have so far been positive in Germany. (December 3rd, 2021)
RKI calls for the economical use of PCR tests and is puzzling over the recent decrease in incidence
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) recommends cautious use of PCR tests due to the tense situation in the corona laboratories. “In some regions laboratories are at the limits of their capacity utilization. Therefore, prioritizing the use of PCR tests in accordance with the national test strategy is currently necessary,” writes the RKI in its weekly report on Thursday evening. For example, PCR tests should be “critically examined under the aspect of the regionally available PCR capacities”.
PCR tests, which are necessary for reliable detection of an infection, should, for example, only be used to a limited extent to shorten the quarantine and isolation times for contact persons and infected people. “For deprioritized occasions (according to the test strategy), high-quality antigen rapid tests should be used if there is a necessary indication.” Such rapid tests can be evaluated on site and do not need a laboratory.
There are fears that overloaded laboratories will not be able to report infections promptly and that this will distort the official statistics. In addition, experts assume that some health authorities are currently unable to report evidence due to the many corona cases.
This is one of the reasons why it is difficult for the RKI to assess the recently lower corona numbers. “The sharp rise in the seven-day incidence in recent weeks has not continued in the past week,” says the weekly report. This could “on the one hand be a first indication of a slightly weakening dynamic in the transmission process due to the significantly intensified measures to reduce contact”. However, the development could “regionally also be due to the increasingly overloaded capacities in the public health service and the exhausted laboratory capacities”.
The seven-day incidence indicates how many infections are reported per 100,000 population per week. It had last decreased for three consecutive days, from 452.4 on Monday to 439.2 on Thursday. Especially for people aged 80 and over, the number of hospital admissions has recently risen rapidly, from eight cases per 100,000 inhabitants per week at the end of September to 43 cases in mid-November. (December 3rd, 2021)
Habeck calls for the resolutions against Corona to be implemented quickly
After the far-reaching resolutions by the federal and state governments to contain the fourth wave of corona, Greens boss Robert Habeck is calling for the measures to be implemented quickly. “The Corona situation in Germany is dramatic,” said the future Vice Chancellor, “The measures that have been decided must now be implemented and enforced immediately. Because now there is no time to lose and the fourth wave to be flattened.”
The federal and state governments presented measures on Thursday to curb the spread of the virus. Unvaccinated people are denied entry to most shops during the Christmas season. Pharmacies and nurses should also be able to take over vaccinations, with millions of additional doses coming in December. The sale of firecrackers and fireworks on New Year’s Eve is banned nationwide.
The future Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Habeck, admitted that the measures meant work-related cuts and financial losses for many people. But he promised that the economic aid would continue to flow in order to get through the Corona winter.
Habeck again spoke out in favor of a general compulsory vaccination, which the Bundestag should vote on in the coming weeks. Although it represents a far-reaching interference with the freedom of the individual. “Nevertheless, I consider it a necessary step to save human lives and to guarantee the freedom of society in the long term,” said Habeck. (December 3rd, 2021)
Association of cities and municipalities considers Corona resolutions to be correct
The German Association of Towns and Municipalities considers the measures adopted by the federal and state governments to combat the corona pandemic to be the right approach. “The catalog of measures comes late, but better late than not at all,” said General Manager Gerd Landsberg Rheinische Post.
“It is right to regulate nationwide access to facilities and events of culture and leisure activities, regardless of incidence, only for vaccinated and convalescent people,” says Landsberg. “The 2-G rule to extend nationwide to retail, with the exception of shops for daily needs, regardless of incidence, as well as the contact restrictions for unvaccinated people are drastic, but correct approaches,” said Landsberg. 2 G means access only for vaccinated and convalescent people.
The President of the German Association of Cities, Markus Lewe, called on politicians to accelerate the vaccinations. “The vaccination campaign must now switch to turbo gear,” he told the Funke media group. “In many cities, however, not enough vaccine is currently arriving. The federal and state governments urgently need to provide enough vaccine and vaccination staff and to bear the costs.” (December 3rd, 2021)
The President of the Medical Association considers Corona resolutions to be inadequate
Federal Medical Association President Klaus Reinhardt has criticized the resolutions of the federal and state governments to combat the corona virus as inadequate. “In order to protect the health system from overload, further measures would be necessary from our point of view,” he said New Osnabrück newspaper.
For vaccinated and convalescent people nationwide, 2 G plus should be mandatory in bars, restaurants as well as for sports and cultural events indoors – then a test would also have to be submitted. Above all, compliance with the entry requirements must be strictly monitored and disregard must be sanctioned bindingly, warned Reinhardt.
Reinhardt also does not limit the number of spectators to a maximum of 15,000 for soccer games. “Large outdoor events should either be completely prohibited or only allowed without audience participation,” he said, pleading for so-called ghost games. He welcomed the plans to introduce compulsory vaccinations. “We would all have preferred to forego a general compulsory vaccination. But now we see that it is the only way to get out of the lockdown loop.” The federal and state governments assume that this could come from February. The ethics council should develop a recommendation for this by the end of the year. (December 3rd, 2021)
Divi President calls for stricter contact restrictions
The President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi), Gernot Marx, demands, in addition to the resolutions of the Prime Minister’s Conference, tightened contact restrictions also for vaccinated people. “We need clear contact restrictions, currently actually best for everyone,” says the Divi president of the editorial network Germany (RND) according to a preliminary report. In addition, one does not yet know enough about the new virus variant and therefore has to be particularly careful. “It is important and right that uniform national measures and limit values have now been adopted. The past few months have shown that uniform measures are most effective,” says Marx. (December 3rd, 2021)
So far four proven Omikron cases in Germany
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), four cases of the Omikron variant have so far been confirmed by genome sequencing in Germany. These four cases are people returning from South Africa, wrote the RKI in its weekly report on Thursday evening. South Africa informed about the variant in the middle of last week. The four people were all vaccinated, none of them had to go to hospital for treatment, as the RKI announced. All of them showed only mild symptoms. According to the RKI, the information relates to advance information that was transmitted by Wednesday.
In eight other cases in Germany there is a suspicion of omicrons, these are currently being checked by genome sequencing – i.e. reading out the virus genome. However, experts assume an occurrence that already goes beyond this.
According to the RKI, infections with the Omikron variant have been detected in at least 18 countries. The twelve European countries therefore include Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. (02.12.2021)