BHealth Minister Karl Lauterbach firmly expects the emergence of further corona mutations. “At the moment the virus has the best conditions to develop further. It is epidemiologically unthinkable that no mutations occur with these high numbers of infections,” said the SPD politician, who is himself an epidemiologist, to the “Stern”. “We can only hope that the new ones are more harmless.”
However, he does not want to be pessimistic about the future. “We will have a super summer, like last year,” Lauterbach told the magazine. The number of infections fell sharply last summer because life then shifted more outside, where the virus spreads less easily.
All developments in the live ticker:
8:56 a.m. – professional association for nursing professions criticizes Söder
Bavaria’s announcement that it will not implement the facility-related compulsory vaccination for the time being has caused criticism. In the RBB info radio, the German professional association for nursing professions accused Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) of sending a devastating political signal. The nursing staff were irritated, said the managing director of the regional association Northeast, Natalie Sharifzadeh.
“We hear from other federal states that they are quite willing to push this through. Aside from the danger that unvaccinated people can pose to residents – and we’re not just talking about carers, we’re talking about hairdressers, pastoral workers, physiotherapists – I also think it’s a fatal signal from a purely political point of view,” said Sharifzadeh. The facility-related vaccination was decided by everyone in December. “And now someone says on his own: oh no, let’s not do it. Politically, that creates a lot of uncertainty,” she criticized
In fact, the association had also heard from nurses who said that if vaccination became compulsory, “then we also have to be vaccinated,” said Sharifzadeh. That would have been a good way not to lose face: “They are now moving back after Mr. Söder’s announcement.”
8:36 a.m. – Social association VdK criticizes Söder’s possible suspension of compulsory vaccination
The social association VdK Germany criticizes the Bavarian announcement to suspend the corona vaccination requirement for healthcare workers. This would endanger human life, said VdK President Verena Bentele of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. The Association of Towns and Municipalities, however, expressed understanding for the Bavarian plans.
VdK President Bentele criticized that the protection of the residents of the home was completely out of focus: “There is a law that was passed to protect these people. If it is not implemented due to a lack of controls, human life will be endangered.” It testifies to an “astonishing understanding of democracy when a prime minister, whose party passed the facility-related vaccination requirement in the Infection Protection Act, now nonchalantly overturns it through the back door”.
7:04 a.m. – Economics ministers advise on corona aid
The economics ministers of the federal and state governments will discuss the economic situation and help for those affected by the corona crisis in a digital switchboard this Tuesday. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) considers an extension of the aid to be useful, for example analogous to short-time work benefits until the end of June, as the ministry told the German Press Agency on Tuesday morning.
If the economy picks up again more quickly, only those companies that are still suffering from the restrictions would receive help, the ministry said. The aid is designed accordingly, because companies would have to prove a loss of sales of at least 30 percent in order to receive the support.
6:53 a.m. – Trudeau calls for the end of the corona protests in Canada’s capital
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for an end to the protests by hundreds of truck drivers against the Corona policy in the capital Ottawa. “This has to stop,” Trudeau said Monday during an urgent debate in the House of Commons.
Trudeau pledged the support of the Canadian federal government “with whatever means the province and the city may need” to deal with the protesters. It was the prime minister’s first appearance after isolating himself for a week after testing positive for coronavirus. Truck drivers began protesting vaccination requirements when crossing the US border in early January.
5:28 a.m. – Lindner criticizes the actions of RKI boss Wieler as “extremely unfortunate”
The FDP chairman Christian Lindner has reiterated criticism from his party about the decision by the Robert Koch Institute to shorten the convalescent status and increased the pressure on RKI boss Lothar Wieler. He had “great doubts” about this decision – which was as unannounced as it was surprising, said Lindner on Monday evening on the program “RTL Direkt”: “The technical and communication decision was in the hands of Mr. Wieler and I think you can say that it was extremely unfortunate.” But it was up to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) to express his confidence, Lindner emphasized.
He referred to the fact that the RKI had unexpectedly shortened the recovered status from six to three months with effect from January 15. Many citizens lost their right to go to restaurants, bars or gyms almost overnight. A new regulation stipulates that the RKI sets the deadline – but the timing came as a surprise.
Before Lindner, the designated FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai had personally criticized the actions of the RKI and its boss in the “Spiegel”. “I have great respect for the achievements of RKI boss Lothar Wieler over the past two years during the pandemic,” he said. With a view to the shortening of the recovered status, however, he added: “Due to this recent misconduct, which unfortunately is not an isolated case, Mr. Wieler can no longer be sure of the trust of the FDP.” Deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann then explained that Wieler had “still has the full confidence of the federal government”.
5:12 a.m. – RKI reports 169,571 new infections – incidence rises to 1441
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has an increase in nationwide seven-day incidence reported and thus again a maximum value. The RKI gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Tuesday morning 1441.0 on. For comparison: the day before the value was 1426.0, a week ago it was 1206.2 (previous month: 335.9).
The health authorities in Germany reported to the RKI within one day 169,571 new corona infections. This emerges from figures that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5:24 a.m. A week ago there were 162,613 infections.
However, the figures are only of limited significance. 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. In addition, the planned prioritization of PCR tests is likely to increase the number of people who no longer have their infection confirmed by a PCR test – which is therefore not included in the official statistics.
According to the new information, Germany was within 24 hours 177 deaths listed.
1:00 a.m. – Municipalities: “Scope” for partial vaccination can be right
When implementing the partial vaccination requirement for clinics and nursing homes, the Association of Towns and Municipalities considers a “time extension” to be sensible in certain cases. “One should not fundamentally question the obligation to vaccinate, but in justified exceptional cases it may be necessary to extend the time,” said general manager Gerd Landsberg to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Tuesday). “If functionality or ongoing operations are at risk, it may be right to open up additional leeway here.”
Landsberg said that in the specific implementation, regional differences are now appearing, some of which are impeding “timely implementation”. “While social institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia sometimes report a vaccination rate of 97 percent among their staff, this apparently looks different in many institutions in Bavaria. The same should probably also apply to some eastern German states.”
12:21 a.m. – Günther: Countries should relax measures individually
Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) has spoken out in favor of the states being able to relax the corona rules independently of one another. Günther told the editorial network Germany (RND) that Schleswig-Holstein will work at the conference of prime ministers with the Federal Chancellor on February 16 to continue along the path taken back to normality. “This can also mean different speeds in the countries due to the different vaccination rates.”
He sees the high vaccination rate in Schleswig-Holstein as justification for easing the measures. “Even if there are reports of an increasing incidence nationwide every day, it must be clear: this data is of a different quality than a year ago. This is due to the high vaccination rate in Schleswig-Holstein,” said Günther. It was important to remain cautious to see if omicron becomes a big problem for the hospitals. Now it is clear that this is not the case. Now the focus must be on preventing serious illnesses in vulnerable groups and not every infection.
11.30 p.m. – Around 23,000 people at demonstrations and counter-protest in Thuringia
According to the police, around 23,000 people took to the streets in Thuringia on Monday evening in connection with the state corona measures. Larger incidents were not initially known, the police said in the evening. Only in Jena did pepper spray have to be used when an elevator was blocked. Most of the 93 meetings were not registered.
According to the information, around 2,000 people each demonstrated in Gera, Gotha and Altenburg. According to the police, numerous people also took part in the demonstrations in Saalfeld (1200), Erfurt (1100), Ilmenau (1000) and Meiningen (900), which were either directed against the Corona policy or the opponents of the measures.
In Jena, 650 participants demonstrated against the Corona measures. 130 people came together for a counter-demonstration. Around 7.40 p.m. the larger demo was blocked. When the blockade was resolved, the police used “simple physical violence and occasionally pepper spray”. During an identity check, a police officer was attacked – and insulted. The “named perpetrator” was reported. The police officer was unharmed.