In view of the high number of infections and the increasing burden on hospitals, there are increasing calls for more far-reaching corona protection measures. FDP leader Christian Lindner has now rejected this. “In the future, there must be no more blanket, blanket restrictions on freedom for everyone,” said the Federal Finance Minister of the Funke media group. “We need targeted measures that guarantee as much social life as possible and leave people as much personal responsibility as possible.”
Among others, the chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, appealed to politicians that the Infection Protection Act should again enable far-reaching measures to protect against corona. “Anyone who categorically rules out measures such as contact restrictions or lockdowns from the outset has neither understood the meaning of the law nor the seriousness of the situation,” says Montgomery.
Autumn could be an “extreme stress test”.
German hospitals are already under a lot of pressure from the current corona summer wave. “The burden is constantly increasing, the significant additional effort due to the obligation to isolate is increasing,” said Gerald Gass, CEO of the German Hospital Society. There are currently twice as many corona patients in German hospitals as there were last summer. Although the proportion of intensive care patients is significantly lower, the absolute number of patients is “twice as high as at the same time last year,” Gass told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “The figures make it clear that autumn can again be an extreme test for the clinics.”
Talks are currently underway between the Ministry of Health and Justice about the corona measures that should be possible in the future in the fight against the pandemic. The legal basis for the now severely restricted rules expires in September. At the same time, a renewed increase in the number of infections is feared in the colder season.
The seven-day incidence was 709.7 on Saturday, down from the previous day (729.3). The RKI reports 116 more deaths related to the corona virus. However, this information only provides a very incomplete picture of the number of infections. Experts have been assuming for some time that there will be a large number of cases not recorded by the RKI – mainly because by far not all infected people have a PCR test done. Only positive PCR tests count in the statistics. In addition, late registrations or transmission problems can lead to the distortion of individual daily values.
All important data on the pandemic can be found on this overview page.