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In the corona pandemic, the city of Cologne exceeded the important alert level of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. The North Rhine-Westphalia health center gave the value of the metropolis on Saturday at 54.8. In Cologne there is now a ban on nighttime alcohol in public spaces and a mask requirement in pedestrian areas.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, a total of seven independent districts and cities are above the important corona warning level, thus a region is considered a risk area. Nationwide, 32.4 people per 100,000 inhabitants were infected with the coronavirus in seven days.
NRW wants free corona trials for hotspot vacationers in the state
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia wants to enable free trial options for German travelers from NRW risk areas during the autumn holidays. The Health Ministry sent the corresponding decree to the municipalities, said a spokesman. Anyone coming from a region where the value of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants is reached or exceeded in a week and needs a negative test for a trip within Germany should be able to take the test for free. Laboratory costs are covered by the federal health fund, the state bears the costs of smears from doctors, he said. the Westfalenpost had previously reported.
Head of the employment agency: the labor market survives the pandemic surprisingly well
Despite the crisis in the crown, the head of the Federal Employment Agency, Detlef Scheele, does not expect a significant increase in unemployment. “The job market is surviving the pandemic surprisingly well,” he told the Funke media group newspapers. So far, 150,000 people have lost their jobs because of Corona. “That is bad for all concerned, but with 33.5 million employees subject to social security contributions, it is not a landslide.” As long as the number of infections does not skyrocket, politicians will intervene at the local level and not at the national level. The job market will resist that, Scheele emphasized. “A complete shutdown would be terrible, but we don’t think so.”
Nor does he expect a wave of bankruptcies to come, Scheele added. The chairman of the board of the employment agency ruled in favor of not reintroducing the suspended obligation to file for bankruptcy at the end of the year as originally planned. “The Ministry of Justice wants to legally enable companies to carry out a restructuring without bankruptcy,” he said. “With regulation like the one the Justice Department is planning, bankruptcies could be avoided.”
RKI reports more than 4,700 new infections
According to the latest figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), there are more than 4,000 new infections in 24 hours in Germany for the third day in a row. And the value is getting closer and closer to the 5,000 mark. On Saturday morning, 4,721 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 Friday, the RKI had registered 4,516 new infections in one day, on Thursday it was 4,058, which represented a sharp increase compared to the approximately 2,800 cases on Wednesday.
In light of the rapidly increasing numbers, virologist Christian Drosten believes that more uniform national regulations will be needed in the coming months to combat the corona pandemic. “It’s good when there are clear rules. It’s very clear,” he said. Publishing network Germany. It is understandable that enforcing them is still difficult at this time, given the different regional frequency of the disease. But he emphasized: “The virus will spread more and more uniformly. We will increasingly enter a situation in which it is better to regulate in all areas.”
Bundeswehr and RKI are sending experts to hotspots
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.
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.
