Live blog
As of: 11/27/2021 2:25 a.m.
The candidate for the CDU chairmanship in Merz does not rule out a general vaccination requirement. The World Medical Association calls for a strict reduction in contacts. The current developments in our live blog.
02:25 am
Merz does not rule out his consent to the general compulsory vaccination
The candidate for the CDU chairmanship, Friedrich Merz, has not ruled out a general compulsory vaccination in view of the dramatic corona situation. “If today’s measures are not sufficient, then I cannot rule out my consent to a general vaccination requirement,” he told the “Rheinische Post”. “The fact that someone does not want to be vaccinated is fundamentally part of our liberal system. But in the current situation this attitude is increasingly becoming a burden on the freedom of those who are vaccinated.”
02:25 am
Apparently dozen of corona cases on flights to Amsterdam
Dozens of people who arrived in Amsterdam on Friday evening on two flights from South Africa are likely infected with the coronavirus, according to the Dutch health authorities. Now all passengers will be tested to find out whether they may have already been infected with the recently discovered Omikon variant. “From the positive test results, we will examine as soon as possible whether it is the new variant,” said the health authorities. Around 600 passengers arrived at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on two KLM flights. The Dutch government had already banned all air travel from southern Africa on Friday morning. Travelers who were already on their way were tested on arrival and then quarantined.
02:25 am
Montgomery for canceling Christmas markets
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, calls for a strict reduction in contacts in order to lower the infection curve again. “We should therefore close the Christmas markets nationwide. There is no point in banning the Christmas markets in one region if people then go to another where they are still open,” said Montgomery to the newspapers of the Funke media group, according to a preliminary report. Countries and municipalities should also ban larger celebrations, fireworks and private gluttony across the board on New Year’s Eve. “This not only prevents infections, but also relieves the emergency clinics,” says the head of the World Medical Association. If the incidences cannot be brought under control, the federal states should be able to close operations across the board again or impose curfews.
02:25 am
WTO postpones ministerial meeting due to Omikron variant
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has postponed its first ministerial meeting in four years because of the new coronavirus variant. The WTO said its members agreed late Friday to postpone the ministerial conference after the outbreak of the new variant led to travel restrictions that prevented many ministers from reaching Geneva. A new date has not yet been set. WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the postponement did not mean that negotiations should end. “On the contrary, the delegations in Geneva should be fully in a position to fill as many gaps as possible. This new variant reminds us once again of the urgency of the work that has been assigned to us,” she said in a statement.