Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn has spoken out in favor of phasing out the so-called “epidemic situation of national scope”. As a ministry spokesman confirmed, the CDU politician expressed himself accordingly during corona consultations with the health ministers of the countries.
The Robert Koch Institute classifies “the risk for vaccinated people as moderate”, so given the current vaccination quota, the epidemic situation could expire and be ended on November 25th as a nationwide exception, Spahn said image according to cited by participants. “This will end a state of emergency that has existed since March 28, 2020 and therefore for almost 19 months.”
At the end of August, the Bundestag extended the “epidemic situation of national importance” for a further three months. It expires automatically if it is not renewed by Parliament. The epidemic situation gives federal and state governments powers to issue ordinances on corona measures such as mask requirements, distance and contact restrictions or to obtain vaccines. (10/18/2021)
Von der Leyen: More than a billion corona vaccine doses exported
The European Union has exported more than a billion corona vaccine doses to other countries around the world within ten months. “We have reached an important milestone,” said Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen. The vaccine has been delivered to more than 150 countries since December 2020 – including Japan, Turkey, Great Britain and Brazil. About 87 million cans were sent to low- and middle-income countries through the UN Covax initiative.
“We have always shared our vaccines fairly with the rest of the world,” emphasized von der Leyen. The EU exported as much as it made available for the citizens of the Union. In view of the initially scarce vaccine and sometimes missing deliveries, the EU introduced export controls for corona vaccines at the beginning of February 2021 and tightened them in March. In certain cases, export can be prohibited. However, this almost never happened. Von der Leyen has now confirmed that the EU will donate at least 500 million vaccine doses to particularly vulnerable countries in the coming months. “But other countries are also challenged,” said the Commission President. (October 18, 2021)
Police clear the blockade in Trieste
After days of protests by activists and workers in the port of the northern Italian city of Trieste against the Corona certificate, the police have started clearing blockades. Police officers with helmets and shields lined up in front of passage number 4 of the port in the morning, as reported by the Ansa news agency and seen on television images. There were scuffles with the security forces who pushed the protesters back. Water cannons were also used.
Dock workers and activists had been demonstrating for days against the extension of the so-called Green Pass to the world of work. This is a corona passport with printable or digital evidence of a corona vaccination, a negative test or recovery from the disease. The government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi had decided that the certificate has been necessary since last Friday in order to be allowed to go to work.
The port workers in Trieste had threatened a blockade. However, operations in the port, which is important for the economy, were not significantly restricted. The government’s decision had already led to violent clashes with the police in the capital Rome on Saturday a week ago. (10/18/2021)
Corona proceedings: The Federal Constitutional Court does not see itself as biased
The Federal Constitutional Court has denied allegations of bias in connection with the Corona emergency brake because of a dinner with members of the federal government. A rejection request against court president Stephan Harbarth and the judge Susanne Baer was rejected as unfounded according to information on Monday. The meeting in Berlin took place on June 30th. All 16 constitutional judges and most of the federal ministers took part in the dinner with the Chancellor, as stated in the government response to an earlier AfD request.
The rejection request was loud World on sunday the Berlin lawyer Niko Härting, who claims to be conducting proceedings for members of the Free Voters before the Constitutional Court. At the end of September he wrote on Twitter that Harbarth had given Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) the opportunity to explain the federal emergency brake. Baer also spoke on the subject. At the same time, the court wants to forego a negotiation on the emergency brake. The court had announced that it would probably decide in writing so that it would go faster because no oral hearing had to be scheduled. This raises doubts about the impartiality, said Härting.
The court stated: “Meetings for the exchange of ideas and experiences between the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Government as such, including the meeting of June 30, 2021 in question, are a completely unsuitable reason to justify the concern of bias.” The topic of the meeting was “Decision making under uncertainties”. Harbarth was involved in its selection, but did not position himself in terms of content on how to deal with it legally, announced the court. That does not speak for a possible lack of impartiality. Lambrecht also did not comment on any specific pending proceedings.
Because of the meeting, the AfD had already accused the judges of bias – in a case of statements by Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on the Thuringian election. The court rejected this request in July on the grounds that the regular meetings were an expression of the respect between the constitutional organs. The court is permanently involved in proceedings that affect the actions of the government. If a meeting raises doubts about the impartiality, an exchange would be impossible. (10/18/2021)
Hospitality industry still well below pre-crisis level
The German hospitality industry made up ground in the holiday month of August after the Corona crisis, but remains well below the pre-crisis level. Pubs, restaurants, caterers as well as hotels and other accommodation providers took in price-adjusted 5.9 percent more than in July, according to the Federal Statistical Office. Accordingly, sales in the catering and accommodation industry were still 16.2 percent below the level of February 2020 – the month before the outbreak of the corona pandemic in Germany. (10/18/2021)
Incidence increases for the sixth day in a row
The seven-day incidence in Germany rose on the sixth day in a row. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Monday morning at 74.4. For comparison: the previous day the value was 72.7, a week ago it was 66.5. The health authorities in Germany reported 4056 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. A week ago the value was 3111 infections.
According to the new information, ten deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were seven deaths. The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days – the most important parameter for a possible tightening of the corona restrictions – was given by the RKI on Friday as 2.02 (Thursday 1.93). A nationwide threshold value from when the situation can be viewed critically is not provided for the hospitalization incidence due to large regional differences. The previous high was around 15.5 around Christmas time. (10/18/2021)
RKI boss Wieler expects infections from people returning from vacation
RKI boss Lothar Wieler expects an increase in the number of infections after the autumn vacation. “On the one hand, we have fewer infections for a short time due to the closed schools,” said Wieler of the Funke media group. “Due to vacation traffic, however, there will again be more infections from abroad.” In the summer, up to 20 percent of the reported infections originated abroad. “There will be a significant increase in the numbers again now,” warned the President of the Robert Koch Institute. The more life moves indoors in the coming weeks, the greater this increase will be. “How high the wave will be depends primarily on the vaccination rate.” (07/17/2021)
Pediatricians ask for vaccination
The German Society for Child and Adolescent Medicine has urged children and adolescents from the age of twelve to be vaccinated against Corona. “Now that data from over ten million children and adolescents have been collected, I recommend vaccination to all over twelve-year-olds today without restriction, I advertise it as urgently as I do with adults,” said association president Jörg Dötsch to the editorial network in Germany. The risk-benefit assessment is clearly in favor of vaccination.
With regard to the corona situation in schools, Dötsch said: “We still do not want the children to be infected – but we also absolutely want to avoid the youngest having to suffer again from the consequences of the school closings and the isolation measures.” The infection numbers are “no longer the decisive factor, not even if they are very high regionally”.
The President of the German Teachers’ Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, on the other hand, expressed concern about the current development. “Even if the general number of infections is currently still stagnating, the outbreaks of infections in schools are currently increasing to an extent that we have never seen before in the course of the pandemic, especially not at such an early point in time before winter,” said Meidinger Passauer Neue Presse. One “light at the end of the tunnel” is that the vaccination rate for 12 to 17 year olds is increasing rapidly. “If there is a vaccination offer for everyone in this country, of course on a voluntary basis, then one can also return to largely normalcy in schools,” said Meidinger. But this will not be before spring. (16.10.2021)