Lockdown immediately: These corona rules come with federal emergency brake and incidence

A new corona variant from South Africa is ringing the alarm bells. The people and science are calling for a lockdown, and the minister of labor is calling for a vaccination.

Berlin – The fourth corona wave is currently striking in Germany with full force: The new one Virus variant Omikron from South Africa* is spreading and increasing the pressure on politicians to finally take quick and tough corona measures. The seven-day incidence in Germany reached another high on Sunday, November 28, 2021, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). 44,401 new infections were reported to the health authorities within 24 hours, the RKI stated the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants to be 446.7, and there are 101 more fatalities.

According to RKI figures from Saturday, more than ten percent (8.6 million people) of the population have received a booster vaccination. 56.9 million people (68.4 percent) are fully vaccinated, 59.1 million people (71.1 percent) at least once.

Nationwide lockdown is required: Scientists and citizens want tough corona measures

After a broad front from top German virologists called for a lockdown on Saturday and also called on the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina to take far-reaching corona measures, the call in the population is now getting louder for further and uniform regulations to contain the corona -Pandemic. According to party leader Annalena Baerbock, the traffic light parties do not want to decide on more far-reaching measures until the beginning of December.

Lockdown in Germany and restrictions for unvaccinated people

But that seems too late for many in the country. According to a survey by the opinion research institute Insa on behalf of “Bild am Sonntag”, around 73 percent of German citizens are currently expecting a nationwide lockdown – within the next four weeks. More than one in two (57 percent of those surveyed) even explicitly wanted such a measure, only 36 percent were against it. Around 55 percent are also of the opinion that the restrictions for unvaccinated people do not go far enough.

The decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on constitutional complaints against the federal corona emergency brake from the spring, announced for Tuesday, November 30, 2021, is eagerly awaited. This is about the nationwide requirements for exit and contact restrictions, which expired at the end of June, in the event of a worsening corona situation. It is expected that the Karlsruhe judges will thus also provide guard rails for future restrictions.

Corona in Germany: Federal Constitutional Court decides on the federal emergency brake from the spring

Therefore, the decision is awaited with great interest from the future coalitionists of the traffic light parties. The SPD, the Greens and the FDP have only just revised the Infection Protection Act – including mandatory home office and the 3G rule at work. In addition, the previous regulations on the emergency brake have been replaced by new rules. Curfews and the comprehensive precautionary closure of schools and daycare centers are now generally no longer possible.

Meanwhile, the pandemic doesn’t stop. On the contrary: it has been certain since Saturday that the Omicron variant of the corona virus, which was first discovered in South Africa, has already arrived in Germany. The attempt to limit the outbreak to the African continent thus failed, as expected.

According to the Max von Pettenkofer Institute, the variant was found in two travelers in Munich. According to information, these had already arrived on a flight from South Africa in the middle of the week. According to the virologist Oliver Keppler, head of virology at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, a so-called whole genome sequencing is still pending, but it has been “proven beyond doubt that this is a variant”. In the meantime, as a precaution for further spreading, entry from eight countries in southern Africa has been drastically restricted.

Calls for corona lockdown are getting louder: Federal President Steinmeier is calling for contacts to be restricted

Federal President Steinmeier wrote in a guest post for “Bild am Sonntag”*: “It is important that we all act together now.” He warned: “Let’s stick to the rules, let’s reduce our contacts again. Let’s do it so that schools and daycare centers don’t close again, so that we don’t have to shut down public life completely. ”He himself canceled his three-day trip to the Gulf region at short notice due to the development of the corona pandemic.

The Leopoldina emphasized that the vaccination campaign had to be massively strengthened and that mandatory vaccination had to be introduced in stages. A quickly introduced job-related compulsory vaccination for doctors, nurses and medical professionals is important. In total, around 30 million third vaccinations should be made possible by Christmas in addition to first and second vaccinations.

“From a medical and epidemiological point of view, it is immediately effective to significantly reduce the number of contacts for a few weeks from the beginning of the coming week,” demand the scientists, including the Berlin virologist Christian Drosten. “Due to the decreasing immunity, these measures would have to apply temporarily to vaccinated and convalescent people who have to receive a booster vaccination during this time.”

Markus Söder (CSU) calls for traffic light government: SPD, Greens and FDP must set the federal emergency brake in motion

Bavaria’s Prime Minister and CSU boss Markus Söder commented similarly on the escalation of the fourth corona wave: The strong man of the CSU pointed out that the increasing number of new corona infections are not just a problem for Bavaria or East Germany. It is a “national phenomenon”. A “complete overload of the German, but also of the regional health system” is to be feared. In addition to the previous measures, a uniform federal regulation is therefore needed.

“We are exhausting everything, but it will not be enough,” emphasized Söder, referring to the previous corona measures. The traffic light government, which with the possible list of ministers in the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the citizens’ money for 2022 only attracted media attention in the course of the week, must ensure an “effective national containment strategy” and a “uniform federal emergency brake for all of Germany” set in motion. The Prime Minister’s Conference must also meet earlier. Every week of the delay means a dramatization of the situation for the clinics.

Compulsory vaccination until Christmas: Minister of Labor Heil wants to oblige certain professional groups

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) spoke of a “warning and wake-up call to Berlin”. “The situation is more serious than most believe,” he told the German press agency. “We should therefore take the information from the Leopoldina very seriously and advise them quickly.” He told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” that a Prime Minister’s conference and a new law that would do justice to the dramatic situation were necessary as soon as possible. The next prime ministerial conference is not planned until Thursday, December 9th, 2021 after next. Several heads of government are pushing for a move forward, others are against it.

The acting Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) announced that he wanted to implement the planned mandatory vaccination for employees in clinics and homes before Christmas. When asked whether he would also advocate a general compulsory vaccination, Heil replied to “Bild am Sonntag”: “Yes, and I think it’s right that we take a first step before Christmas to ensure that, for example in clinics, there is an obligation to vaccinate in care, elderly and disabled facilities. ”But there is currently an acute shortage of vaccines, as the states of Bremen and Lower Saxony reported at the weekend.

World medical chief Frank Ulrich Montgomery warned of new corona mutants such as the Omikron variant. He calls for the closing of the Christmas markets and a ban on fireworks on New Year’s Eve. “In St. Nicholas week we could have incidences between 700 and 800,” warned the chairman of the World Medical Association Younger in the “World”.

Intensive care bed occupancy in Germany: Air Force relocates corona patients nationwide

The second use of the Air force for the transfer of corona intensive care patients within Germany*. According to the Bundeswehr, an ambulance plane flew from its home airport in Cologne to Munich, from where patients should be flown to Hamburg. A machine had already flown to Memmingen in Bavaria on Friday to bring six seriously ill people to North Rhine-Westphalia from there.

This should relieve the hospitals in regions with a particularly high number of corona patients. Bavaria is one of the worst affected federal states. Even Corona patients were relocated to Hamburg*, Bremen and Hanover have already accepted Covid 19 sufferers from other federal states. * Kreiszeitung.de, merkur.de and 24hamburg.de are offers from IPPEN.MEDIA.

List of rubric lists: © Ole Spata / dpa