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The Bundeswehr and the Robert Koch Institute will send experts to Corona hotspots in the future. According to an agreement reached on Friday between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the mayors of large cities, this applies if more than 35 new infections were registered per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days.
Cities should introduce more extensive restrictions no later than when the value rises to 50 infections. This includes, for example, expanding the mandatory face mask to include public spaces if the required distance cannot be maintained there. Curfew and alcohol restrictions for restaurants are also mentioned, as well as additional restrictions on the number of participants in private events and celebrations.
The metropolises should relieve their regulatory agencies so they can control the restrictions. Federal and state governments should give short notice of how federal and state law enforcement can help. If the increase in the number of infections does not stop after a maximum of ten days, further restriction measures are inevitable.
Merkel made a special appeal to young people to adhere to the rules. He said youth might find restrictions on celebrations or the curfew excessive. But then he asked if it wasn’t worth being patient and thinking about family and grandparents. He also mentioned the learning opportunity, for example. The top priority is to keep the economy running and children and young people to go to kindergartens and schools.
Faced with the sharp increase in the number of corona infections, the chancellor met with those responsible in the eleven largest cities in Germany. The mayors of Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen, Leipzig and Stuttgart participated in the videoconference.
Specifically, Merkel and the mayors agreed on the following measures:
- 35 new infections at the latest for every 100,000 inhabitants in seven days send that Robert Koch Institute and the armed forces at the request of the city Experts | in the city, crisis teams advise.
- Of 50 infections per 100,000 inhabitants should new restrictions immediately give. This includes a Mask requirement extension, Contact restrictions Y curfew, if applicable Y Alcohol restrictions for the catering industry how Participation restrictions for private parties and events.
- If health authorities are overwhelmed with follow-up contacts, the federal and state governments must provide personal support.
- Big cities have to relieve the public order offices so that they can control compliance with the regulations. The federal and state governments advise on whether federal and state law enforcement can also provide support.
- Protective measures in homes for the elderly and the elderly, hospitals and facilities for the disabled it must be adapted to the number of infections. The federal government ensures that residents, patients, visitors, and staff cover the costs of periodic rapid tests.
- Does the increase in the number of infections through these measures does not slow down in ten days, They are more restriction steps planned to reduce public contacts.
More than 4,500 new infections Thursday
According to the latest figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), new infections passed the 4000 mark for the second day in a row in 24 hours. On Friday morning 4,516 new cases of corona were reported. This is again a new record since the peak of the pandemic in spring. At that time, there were more than 6,000 new infections per day at peak times. On Thursday, the RKI registered 4,058, which was a sharp increase compared to approximately 2,800 cases on Wednesday.
In view of the sharp increase in the number of corona infections, Foreign Minister Helge Braun calls on people in German risk areas to refrain from traveling during the autumn holidays. “Both the states and the federal government urgently call on people in risk areas to avoid travel this fall if possible,” said the CDU politician. Spiegel. Berlin and Frankfurt am Main are currently considered risk areas.
University clinics in Berlin and Frankfurt: planned interventions must be postponed again
The increase in crown numbers is forcing the Berlin Charité to postpone planned interventions as in spring. “We have to try to make intensive care beds free for Covid patients,” board member Ulrich Frei said in Berlin on Friday. This is not an easy task and raises difficult ethical questions, for example, in the treatment of cardiac and tumor patients.
The director of the Frankfurt University Hospital, Jürgen Graf, expressed a similar opinion. The end of summer brought a sense of false security in the pandemic because new infections led to less frequent illness. Now more patients would have to be hospitalized again. “University clinics are certainly early warning systems for what is coming into the healthcare system,” Graf said.
According to Freis, there are still many patients in intensive care units whose interventions and examinations were compensated after the first corona wave in spring. At the same time, however, there was a shortage of nursing staff.
Berlin and Frankfurt exceed the critical limit
One of the key indicators to assess the situation of the crown in Berlin has exceeded the problematic value of 50. For every 100,000 inhabitants, 52.8 new infections have been reported in the capital in the last seven days, according to the situation report of the Senate Health Administration this Thursday. However, when it comes to possible Senate action, Berlin’s own early warning system is crucial.
Berlin’s ruling mayor, Michael Müller (SPD), is not ruling out further restrictions due to the alarming number of corona cases. “I am very concerned about this development,” Müller said. “It cannot be ruled out that we have to agree on further steps in this context. We absolutely want to avoid a lockdown like the one we have already had.”
According to the criteria of the Robert Koch Institute, Berlin is now a risk zone. This is another reason why travel restrictions apply to Berliners in other federal states. In several districts of Berlin, the so-called seven-day incidence has far exceeded 50. On Thursday, the Neukölln health department reported 114.3, which is a national maximum value.
Frankfurt am Main has also surpassed the key figure for the course of the corona pandemic of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last seven days. Hesse’s largest city announced on Thursday. Due to the increasing number of infections, the city has already announced restrictions such as a ban on alcohol in public places and an expansion of the mask requirement.
Spahn: Increase in the number of infections “alarmingly strong”
Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) and Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), commented on the “fall situation in Corona” at a press conference. Immediately before, the RKI had reported a rapid increase in the number of cases. “The number of corona cases is increasing again and with them increasing uncertainty,” said Spahn (CDU) in Berlin.
Today in particular, the number of infections has increased “alarmingly and drastically,” Spahn said of the latest RKI figures. Since then, more than 4,000 new infections have been reported in 24 hours, a sharp increase. The minister said that the number of serious illnesses is comparatively low at the moment. But he warned: at the moment it is mainly young people who are infected, for example because they celebrate parties “because they are considered inviolable.” But they are not. And it’s also about protecting others.
RKI chief Wieler warned that corona infections would increasingly affect older people again. In April, the average age of those infected was 53 years, in July it was 36 years. Meanwhile, go back up. That will also lead to more patients in intensive care. The number of intensive care patients has doubled in the last four weeks.
Wieler said: “The infection rate is increasing, and that worries me. Big concerns.” It is not known how the situation in Germany will develop in the coming weeks. There may be 10,000 cases a day and the virus spreading uncontrollably. It is important to prevent that.
In general, the number of cases has increased week by week since September. In the last seven days, approximately twice as many cases have been reported as in early September. This is due to larger outbreaks, but also many smaller ones, for example in celebrations and private gatherings. Compared to the summer, when many people returning from vacation brought the virus to Germany, the majority of transmissions now take place within the country. Unfortunately, there are also more outbreaks in the elderly and nursing homes.
Spahn said Germany has weathered the Corona crisis comparatively well so far. You shouldn’t bet that. “He couldn’t say exactly where exponential growth would start, but it should be avoided in any case. This can be done by observing the above AHA rules, i.e. daily distance / hygiene / mask as well as using the Corona warning app and – especially now in the cold season – “this simple means of ventilation”.
How the pandemic will unfold is up to the people themselves. “If 80 million join,” the chances of the virus spreading diminish. Dealing with the pandemic “will be a test of character for everyone,” Spahn said. “I want us to pass this test.”
Regarding the current debates in the federal states on accommodation bans and travel restrictions, the minister said he considers it important to create “a uniform framework”. For him, federalism is an “amazing force” in the pandemic. If the federal government and the states agree, “we really are stronger.” But the road to a uniform decision is difficult, “where it shakes, sometimes it shakes unnecessarily.” And this part also costs acceptance in the population.
The federal government classifies Romania and Tunisia as risk areas
The federal government has declared all of Romania, Tunisia, Georgia and Jordan, as well as the individual regions of seven EU countries, to be corona risk areas. On the other hand, the warning for Corsica is removed. The Robert Koch Institute updated its list of hazards accordingly Wednesday night.
Travelers returning from risk areas must undergo corona tests 48 hours before or after entering the country and then quarantined until the test result is there. The travel warning is not a ban, but it is intended to have a significant deterrent effect on tourist travel. However, it also has a silver lining for consumers: it allows vacationers to cancel reservations for free.
