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Who curses herd immunity as inhuman?
9:21 am: The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against relying on herd immunity to fight the pandemic through mass contagion. “Never in the history of healthcare has herd immunity been used as a strategy against an outbreak, much less a pandemic,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
This approach would be ethically and scientifically problematic. Herd immunity, that is, the threshold above which a virus can no longer spread in a population, must be achieved, similar to measles and polio, through vaccines, not through infections, especially since not yet it is clear how much one infection is before a second. Sagittarius. In a letter, researchers from several countries recently announced herd immunity.
The population in Germany is falling for the first time in ten years
09.03 am: In the first half of 2020, the population in Germany fell slightly for the first time in about ten years as a result of the pandemic. At the end of June, 83.1 million people lived in Germany, announced the Federal Statistical Office. The population decreased by around 40,000 people, which corresponds to 0.05 percent of the total population. The last time the population fell was in the second half of 2010.
The number of people in Germany has increased steadily since 2011, although recently growth has slowed more and more. The largest increase was recorded in the second half of 2015 due to strong immigration (plus 0.9 percent).
Schwesig upholds strict rules on banning accommodation
8:27 am: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) defended the strict rules on the ban on accommodation in Corona and ruled out walking away from it. “In times of the second wave, we cannot pretend that everything could be easier,” Schwesig told the ARD “Morgenmagazin” on Tuesday. In view of the growing numbers in Germany, he is not in favor of relaxing the accommodation ban.
“Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will not accept that either. We did well with our strict rules from the beginning,” emphasized the Prime Minister, praising the efforts of her state, which has the “lowest number of infections” despite the high number of tourists. He called for a “clear and strict line, and that cannot be decreasing at a time when the numbers in Germany are increasing.” The line should rather be “stick to strict rules, especially in risk areas.”
The accommodation ban for travelers from Germany’s internal crown risk areas is controversial. In most federal states, the rule applies that people from regions with more than 50 new infections per 100,000 people can only stay in a hotel within a week if they can show a current corona test with a negative result. . This is often criticized for being disproportionate and the use of testing capabilities is also criticized.
Montgomery calls for “exit controls” for risk areas
07:58 am: The president of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, has strongly criticized the ban on lodging in many federal states for tourists from the risk areas of Corona. “I think that’s complete nonsense,” Montgomery said on Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday. Especially since work, family and non-tourist visits are allowed. “Now explain to the virus what the difference is between a tourist and a manager,” Montgomery said.
Instead, you should start where the number of infections has increased dramatically. There should be an “exit control” when traveling from these risk areas. “But politicians avoid that and now they are coming up with all kinds of absurd proposals.” Montgomery also opposed a proposal by two Union politicians to extend winter break in schools. “What nonsense,” said the doctor. This only worries students, parents, and teachers.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the federal states want to discuss the situation of the crown this Wednesday. Numerous politicians had already called for the inconsistent accommodation ban to be lifted on Monday.
Johnson Y Johnson suspends corona vaccine testing for now
8.10 am: The American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson temporarily suspended its tests for a possible coronavirus vaccine after a subject fell ill. The company announced Monday that the participant fell ill for “unexplained” reasons. According to the information, a committee of independent experts will investigate the causes of the disease during the test break. The main question is whether the disease was caused by the potential serum.
The interruption of the third and final phase of testing means, among other things, that at the moment it is not possible to make further online registrations for testing. In this crucial phase, J&J wants to test the active ingredient on a total of 60,000 people at 200 locations in the US, Latin America and South Africa.
J&J started the third test phase at the end of September. Intensive research is underway around the world on vaccines against the new pathogen. In addition to J&J, several other companies are in the final testing phase.
Japanese tourist alone in Machu Picchu
07.20 am: The crisis of the crown brought a unique happiness to a Japanese tourist in Peru: He was allowed to enter the world famous Inca site Machu Picchu as the only visitor. Jesse Katayama, who had been trapped in Peru for months due to the pandemic, had received special permission from the responsible tourism authority in Cusco to visit the archaeological site, and only for him. Machu Picchu has been closed for seven months.
After his visit on Sunday, the 26-year-old boxing instructor posted a photo of himself at the orphan tourist destination and wrote: “The first person on earth to go to Machu Picchu since the lockdown is iiiiii.” In a video on the Tourism Board’s Facebook page, he added: “This is really amazing! Thank you.”
Katayama has been in Peru since March due to canceled flights and other restrictions on freedom of movement. He had bought a ticket to Machu Picchu just a few days before the declaration of a health emergency in the South American country.
The Inca city of Machu Picchu in the Andes, built in the 15th century, is one of the greatest tourist attractions in South America. It was added to the Unesco World Heritage List in 1983. Machu Picchu was supposed to reopen in July, but this was postponed to November. So only 675 visitors should be allowed per day. This is only 30 percent of the pre-pandemic figure.
More than 4,000 new infections in Germany
6.30 am: According to the Robert Koch Institute, health authorities have reported more than 4,122 people infected. On Monday, 2,467 new corona infections were reported in one day.
Experience has shown that the figures recorded on Sundays and Mondays are usually lower, also because not all health authorities transmit data to the RKI on weekends. On Tuesday a week ago, there were 2,639 cases.
By Thursday, the number of new infections had passed the 4000 mark for the first time since April, at 4,058. On Saturday, there were even 4,721 new cases detected.
Head of health insurance: rapid tests at events are “science fiction”
06:28 am: The director of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians has dashed hopes that rapid antigen tests will be used at major events. “Even the announced rapid antigen tests are not a panacea,” said Andreas Gassen of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (Tuesday). “The idea of us doing a rapid test with 5,000 visitors to the stadium is still science fiction.”
Even with the best rapid tests, two to ten infected people out of a hundred tested would not be recognized. “In massive events in a confined space, a potential risk of infection cannot be safely ruled out,” Gassen said.
In antigen testing, the characteristic proteins of the virus are recognized after smears. The method is considered to be less reliable than many of the conventional PCR tests for virus genes, but it is often faster and cheaper.
The first antigen tests for use by medical professionals are already on the market in Germany. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, rapid antigen tests will be used in nursing homes and hospitals from mid-October.
Man infected with corona twice in a month and a half in the US.
06.25 am: A man in the US contracted the coronavirus twice with an interval of only about a month and a half, and the course of his second infection was more severe than the first time.
This is the result of a study published this Tuesday in the journal “The Lancet Infectious Diseases.” Consequently, the 25-year-old from the state of Nevada had to be hospitalized and ventilated after his second infection.
According to the study, the man was infected with two different variants of the Sars-CoV-2 virus. The research mentioned four other cases around the world in which people who had already been infected with the coronavirus were infected a second time. This affected people in Belgium, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Ecuador.
It is not yet clear how long immunity lasts after a first infection with the new virus, explained study lead author Mark Pandori. But the study shows that a previous infection does not necessarily protect against repeated infections.
This means that those who tested positive “must continue to take precautionary measures” such as keeping physical distance from other people, wearing respirators and washing their hands regularly.
