live blog
Status: 01/30/2022 04:59 am
The nationwide seven-day incidence has again reached a high. The RKI reported 118,970 new corona infections within 24 hours. In Canada, hundreds of truck drivers protested against compulsory vaccination. All developments in the live blog.
- RKI reports seven-day incidence of 1156.8
- Canada: Hundreds of truck drivers protest against compulsory vaccination
- Giffey: Consider “work quarantine” in the event of staff shortages
04:59 am
Djir-Sarai: Discussion about opening up must start now
The designated FDP general secretary, Bijan Djir-Sarai, is calling for a discussion to begin quickly about the lifting of corona restrictions. “Contrary to what was feared, fortunately we are not seeing any increase in serious illnesses despite the increasing number of infections with the corona virus,” Djir-Sarai told the dpa news agency. “I therefore think it is extremely important that we send a strong positive sign to people in the current situation and start talking seriously and intensively about possible opening perspectives.” It would be too late to start this discussion after the peak of the omicron wave has passed, he said.
4:33 a.m
RKI reports 118,970 new infections within one day
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 118,970 positive tests with the corona virus within 24 hours. That is 33,530 more cases than on Sunday a week ago, when 85,440 new infections were reported. The nationwide seven-day incidence rises to a new high of 1156.8 compared to 1127.7 the day before. 59 people died in connection with the virus. This increases the number of reported deaths to 117,725. So far, more than 9.73 million corona tests have been positive in Germany.
Currently, the RKI often has to correct the daily updated number of cases upwards during the day, as the health authorities are overloaded in many places and only transmit the data with a delay. That is why experts also assume a high and increasing number of infections that are not even recorded in the RKI data. In addition, some cities and districts have been reporting problems with the transmission of the number of corona cases for days. The RKI announced that despite these problems, a “reliable assessment of the overall development” was still possible and emphasized that when assessing the pandemic, not only the number of infections was decisive, but “the development of the number and severity of the diseases was the priority”.
4:33 a.m
Hundreds of truck drivers in Canada protest against compulsory vaccination
In Canada, hundreds of truck drivers drove for days to protest against the compulsory corona vaccination, which recently came into force when crossing the border into the USA. The truckers arrived in the capital, Ottawa, where they were enthusiastically received by thousands of people. The protesters waved Canadian flags and placards reading “Freedom” and chanted against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The so-called “Convoy for Freedom” was in Vancouver on Canada’s west coast on Sunday last week, as Canadian media reported. More and more drivers joined the convoy on the way to the capital Ottawa, which is around 4400 kilometers from Vancouver.
The vaccination requirement for border crossings was introduced by Canada and the USA in mid-January. Unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers must therefore go into a 14-day quarantine when returning from the USA, while US drivers without a vaccination are not allowed into the country at all. The United States threatens a permanent ban for violations.
4:33 a.m
Bovenschulte criticizes inaccuracies in hospitalization incidence
Bremen’s Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte has criticized inaccuracies in the hospitalization value of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). “Since there are severe restrictions on the incidence of hospitalization in the pandemic, it is imperative that the numbers are collected by the RKI in future according to precisely defined and uniform criteria,” Bovenschulte told the “Bild am Sonntag”.
The hospitalization incidence indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants are in hospital within seven days because of a corona infection. The federal and state governments had set the value in November as the decisive benchmark for tightening or relaxing the corona measures.
Bovenschulte’s criticism is based on fluctuations in the reporting quality in the individual federal states. Bremen, which also reports reliable figures on weekends and public holidays, had the highest incidence of hospitalization on Friday at 13.82 – three times higher than the average. Even in November, when corona patients from Saxony were flown to Bremen hospitals, Bremen had a higher value than Saxony, which could not keep up with reporting. Bovenschulte therefore called for changes in the collection of the value “to ensure nationwide comparability”.
4:33 a.m
Scheele: If vaccination is mandatory, employers can refuse unvaccinated people
The CEO of the Federal Employment Agency, Detlef Scheele, also sees consequences for the labor market if a general corona vaccination is introduced. “Only when there is a general obligation to vaccinate and violations also have legal consequences can employers reject an applicant because he has not been vaccinated or recovered,” Scheele told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “We as a federal agency must then also check whether a lack of vaccination leads to a blocking period.” A blocking period means that an unemployed person does not receive unemployment benefits for a certain period of time.
At the moment, the vaccination status of employees has no effect on the labor market, “because there is currently no corresponding legal basis,” explained Scheele. With the introduction of a general obligation to vaccinate, however, the situation will change. “Just as the 3G status must currently be queried at the workplace, employers will then have the right to check the 2G status. This option does not currently exist.”
In an orientation debate on Wednesday, the Bundestag discussed in detail for the first time the introduction of general corona vaccination in Germany. The traffic light coalition has agreed that the deputies should deliberate and decide in a free vote without the usual group guidelines. A decision could be made according to SPD plans in March.
4:33 a.m
Giffey: Consider “work quarantine” in supply in the event of staff shortages
In the event of very large staff shortages in the critical infrastructure due to Corona, Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey can imagine letting infected people work without symptoms. “Should it happen in areas of the most elementary basic care that we can no longer maintain operations with healthy staff alone, we must consider more serious measures,” said the SPD politician to “Bild am Sonntag”. “Then it is an option for those who are infected, but who have no symptoms, to continue to work in certain areas in exceptional cases.”
Such a work quarantine can of course only be implemented under strict protective measures: “Anyone who operates a machine alone in the waterworks or who extinguishes a fire in the fire brigade can do it without major problems with a symptom-free corona infection.” The situation is different for people who deal with patients in the hospital or in nursing.
There is currently an average staff shortage of 15 percent in Berlin, said Giffey. “We are prepared for a staff shortage of up to 30 percent.” The background is the rapidly increasing number of corona infections in the course of the spread of the virus variant Omicron. There are concerns that if the surge continues sharply, key areas of care could be impacted by large staff shortages.