Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has personally taken responsibility for the turnaround in the corona isolation obligation. His original suggestion that infected people would no longer have to stay at home alone was a “mistake” and “the wrong signal”. It was understood as a loosening step, but was not intended as such. When that became clear to him on Tuesday, he decided “not to let this idea continue” and to revise his decision. He had informed the Federal Chancellor of this, but had not been urged to do so.
Lauterbach announced the about-face in the evening on the ZDF program “Markus Lanz” and late at night via Twitter without previously informing the countries that have to implement the relevant rules. “I will collect this point that the infected people isolate themselves and are no longer asked by the health department,” he said on the show. However, he is sticking to the shortening of the isolation to five days.
After consultations with the federal and state health ministers, the minister originally announced on Monday that from May 1st, people infected with corona and contact persons would usually only have to be in isolation or quarantine voluntarily and for a short period of time. Infected people should therefore only be “strongly recommended” to isolate themselves for five days and avoid contacts – it should apply accordingly to contact persons of infected people. An order from the health department should be dropped.
There was criticism of the announcement from many sides – publicly as well as from experts who advised him, as Lauterbach said. This made him rethink. “I made the decision myself,” he said. “You don’t do that often.” However, he did not consider resigning.
The end of the obligation to isolate was originally intended to relieve the health authorities, said Lauterbach. This will also happen because in the future they will not have to order quarantine for contact persons. However, this is no longer the case in many cases today, since the authorities cannot keep up with their work.
In the Bundestag, the Union criticized Lauterbach’s about-face unsettling the population. The green coalition partner also said that this was “not good communication”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/. “As a minister, you also have to be able to correct things that weren’t going well,” said Lauterbach. The “symbolic damage”, the impression given that Corona is not dangerous, is so devastating that this isolation regime cannot be used. (06.04.2022)
Study: Protection against infection drops off quickly after second booster
While a fourth dose of the Biontech vaccine is lowering rates of Covid-19 infection in the elderly, that protection appears to be short-lived. This was the result of a large-scale study in Israel. During the investigation, the omicron variant prevailed there. The protection provided by the second booster vaccination was already after four weeks, as Israeli researchers in their renowned New England Journal of Medicine published research showed. However, the protection against serious illnesses did not decrease in the six weeks after the vaccination. However, further follow-up studies are needed to assess longer-term protection, the scientists explained.
Another study from Israel last month showed that after a second booster shot with the Biontech vaccine, elderly people had a 78 percent lower mortality rate than those who only received a booster. Israel has been offering a second booster vaccination since January.
In Germany, the Standing Vaccination Commission has so far issued a recommendation for a fourth corona vaccination for over 70-year-olds and for groups of people at risk of health. At the end of March, the EU health ministers asked the European Commission to examine a recommendation for a fourth vaccination for all over 60-year-olds. In the USA, the FDA wants to discuss the need for additional booster vaccinations this Wednesday. A week ago, a second booster vaccination for people aged 50 and over with the vaccines from Biontech and Moderna was approved there. (06.04.2022)
Seven-day incidence drops to 1322
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports 214,985 new infections within 24 hours. That is 53,492 fewer cases than on Wednesday a week ago, when 268,477 positive tests were reported. Overall, the number of confirmed infections in Germany is more than 22 million. The nationwide seven-day incidence continues to fall to 1322.2 from 1394.0 the previous day. 340 other people died in connection with the virus. This increases the number of reported deaths to 130,708.
The numbers are of limited value. 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. (06.04.2022)
Compromise proposal: compulsory corona vaccination from the age of 60
There is movement in the struggle to find a compromise for general corona vaccination in Germany. The two groups of deputies in the Bundestag, who have each introduced their own draft legislation for compulsory vaccination, agreed on Tuesday on a joint proposal for compulsory vaccination from the age of 60. This increases the chances of the vote, which is planned for this Thursday without the usual group guidelines. First, the editorial network Germany reported on the compromise.
As it says in a statement, “a vaccination certificate is to be mandatory for all people over the age of 60, i.e. the particularly vulnerable population group”. It should be fulfilled by October. This obligation should be able to be suspended with a Bundestag resolution in June if the vaccination rate increases sufficiently. In the autumn, against the background of the then prevailing knowledge and potential virus variants, the Bundestag is to decide “whether the activation of the obligation to provide proof of vaccination for age groups from 18 years of age should also take effect”.
Specifically, it is the group around SPD parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese and the Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen, who initially aimed for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18. On Monday she already presented a compromise proposal for a duty from the age of 50 with the option of extending it to all adults. The second group, led by the FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann, had proposed compulsory advice and then a possible compulsory vaccination from the age of 50. The initiative, which originally proposed mandatory vaccinations from 18, has so far been supported by 237 MPs. The group for compulsory vaccination from 50 initially supported around 45 parliamentarians. (05.04.2022)
Shanghai extends lockdown indefinitely
The Chinese port metropolis of Shanghai has extended the corona lockdown for its 26 million inhabitants indefinitely. Referring to the rapid increase in infections, Vice Party leader Gu Honghui spoke of a “race against time” on Tuesday. The mass tests on Monday, their verification and the transport of the infected to quarantine must first be completed before a decision is made on the further direction of the control measures. “The situation is very acute.”
In the worst corona wave in China for two years, the health commission in Beijing reported a record of more than 16,000 new infections. With more than 15,000, most cases are asymptomatic. In Shanghai alone, 268 diseases and more than 13,000 infections without symptoms were reported after the tests of the past few days – for the first time more than 10,000 in one day. The northeast Chinese province of Jilin is also badly affected, where there are also curfews and millions of people are being tested. China is pursuing a strict zero-Covid strategy, which will be severely tested with Omicron and especially with the fast-spreading BA.2 variant. In China, anyone who is infected comes to a hospital or a quarantine facility that has been provisionally set up in Shanghai, including in gyms and exhibition halls and hotels. Actually, the curfews in western Shanghai should only run from Friday to Tuesday, but as before in the east and south, where the lockdown should be from Monday to Friday, people still have to stay at home. (05.04.2022)