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Merkel is lowering hopes of loosening up next week
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The EU obtains 300 million doses of vaccines from Biontech
The German company Biontech has announced a breakthrough with its corona vaccine. Now the EU has secured 300 million doses as soon as the drug is approved. But distributing the vaccine will be a big challenge.
Angela Merkel has lowered expectations that the crown crisis will soon end. “We have to assume that the second wave will be tougher, and falls especially in a bad season,” says the Chancellor.
TDespite recent advances in the search for a vaccine against the corona virus, Chancellor Angela Merkel agrees with the Germans that the restrictions imposed will continue throughout the winter.
The second wave of the corona epidemic “will keep us busy all winter, even if we now have positive messages about vaccine development,” Merkel said Wednesday.
The Chancellor added that, therefore, the existing precautionary measures must continue to be complied with.
“We have to assume that the second wave is tougher, and falls mainly in a bad season,” Merkel said Wednesday at the presentation of the expert opinion in Berlin and drew a comparison with the Spanish flu. “It will keep us busy all winter,” he added.
On Monday, Merkel will again discuss the new crown measures with the heads of government of the 16 federal states.
Saxony Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer does not yet see any chance of easing the restrictions in light of the current number of corona infections. “The figures we have now are not close enough. We have reached a maximum of a slight lateral movement, “said the CDU politician in the ARD” morning magazine “on Wednesday.
“We will see what decisions we have to make next Monday,” he said.
“If we really don’t manage to go back substantially, that means: 50 infected people per 100,000 inhabitants for seven days, then those will be difficult months ahead of us,” Kretschmer said. They’ve only been on partial lockdown for a week, so things could still change. So they argue differently.
Currently 18,000 people infected with corona in Germany
“But the expectation was that the numbers could go down so that restaurants could be reopened, that we could have Christmas markets in a different way, that we could have church services. It cannot be seen in the numbers now available. “
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU), on the other hand, sees signs of a positive change in the corona infection situation in Germany. The dynamics of the infection process have been “significantly reduced” in recent days, Spahn said on Wednesday on the “Frühstart” program on television stations RTL and n-tv. “It continues to increase, but less quickly. That is encouraging at first, but it is not enough. ” It is still too early to speak of a “turnaround”.
Spahn commented positively on a proposal by NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) to start the Christmas holidays earlier due to the corona pandemic. “That is certainly part of the debate,” said the minister. Planning is important for parents, children, and teachers. “That would be the case with such a measure.” Spahn, however, sees no scope for larger Christmas parties.
In Germany, health authorities reported 18,487 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in 24 hours. That’s 3,155 more cases than Tuesday, according to RKI information from Wednesday morning. Compared to Wednesday of last week, the value is slightly higher. At that time, the number of new infections reported was 17,214.
Chancellor Merkel also recently named the number 50, based on the number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days: “We have to get to the region of 50,” she said. “That is the goal.” With this number, the follow-up of the contacts by the health authorities is guaranteed.
