Minister of Health
Lauterbach expects return to masks and warns of “killer variant”
Karl Lauterbach fears a “killer variant” of the corona virus – and is criticized for it
© Axel Heimken / Picture Alliance
The corona numbers continue to fall. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach expects the situation to worsen again in autumn. The SPD politician warns of a “killer variant”.
According to Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD), the obligation to wear masks indoors, which has now been largely abolished, could be reintroduced in autumn. The situation will then change again, he told the “Bild am Sonntag”. “Then the cases will increase, then there will probably be new mutations, or the number of cases with omicron infections will increase sharply. That’s why we have to revise the Infection Protection Act again by then.” It could then be necessary again to make wearing a mask indoors compulsory.
Corona numbers continue to fall
The corona numbers continued to fall over the Easter days. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the nationwide seven-day incidence on Sunday at 834.3. A week ago it was 1097.9.
According to the currently applicable Infection Protection Act, mask requirements are only possible in a few areas such as medical practices or public transport. In order to be able to order further measures, the federal states must declare regions as hotspots by state parliament resolution. According to the law, this hotspot rule and the mask requirement in surgeries, buses and trains can only be applied until September 23rd.
The board of directors of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch, told the German Press Agency. If the Minister of Health wants to tighten the Infection Protection Act in the fall, then he should start convincing the liberal coalition partner now. “In the past, Karl Lauterbach waited until the end. The result is now a legal regulation that offers little protection.”
Karl Lauterbach expects Omikron vaccine in autumn
When developing the vaccine, Lauterbach expects a preparation adapted to the omicron variant in about five months. “We’re getting a vaccine that protects against the omicron variants. We’re expecting that in September,” he said. The minister described the failure of general compulsory vaccination in the Bundestag as a “bitter disappointment”. “After a good summer, the large vaccination gap can give us a hard autumn. Many scientists then expect the next waves.”
Karl Lauterbach expects the next corona wave in autumn and warns of a possible “killer variant”
© Axel Heimken / Picture Alliance
The SPD politician spoke of various omicron sub-variants that are currently developing and that are cause for concern for him. “It’s entirely possible that we could get a highly contagious omicron variant that’s as deadly as Delta. That would be an absolute killer variant.”
Karl Lauterbach was criticized
Lauterbach’s statements were met with criticism: The virologist Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit wrote on Twitter on Sunday: “What are these killer variants?” So far, he has not found this description for coronavirus variants from the World Health Organization, the EU health authority ECDC or the American CDC. The CDU health politician Erwin Rüddel tweeted with reference to the Lauterbach statements: “He should have actually learned from his mistakes and misjudgments.”
On Sunday, the RKI reported 39,784 new corona infections transmitted by the health authorities within 24 hours. A week ago it was 55,471. When considering the values, it must be taken into account that some countries do not report data on every day of the week. Fewer reports are also to be expected on public holidays. This in turn leads to late registrations on the following days. A comparison of daily values is therefore becoming increasingly difficult. Experts have also been assuming underreporting for some time, for example because not all infected people have a PCR test done. Only these count in the statistics.
Minister of health on “various death lists”
Lauterbach also commented on the threat level against him: “I’m not an anxious person myself. But I’m very worried about my children. And of course it hurts that my children are afraid for me. It’s not right when children have to read that radicals wanted to kidnap her father.” The SPD politician said he was often threatened with violence. “I’m on various death lists.” He reports every threat of violence and murder. “I do it so consistently because an opponent of vaccination who threatens me with violence will probably also threaten his mayor or city council.”
On Thursday it became known that members of a nationwide Telegram chat group made up of so-called Reich citizens and opponents of the Corona policy had planned explosive attacks and his kidnapping.