[ad_1]
The medical president urges citizens to be reasonable
9.40 Medical President Klaus Reinhardt appealed to German citizens at Christmas to keep their contacts to a minimum and not to exhaust the maximum meeting limits. “Once again, I urgently appeal to everyone to behave sensibly, especially during the holidays,” said the president of the German Medical Association in Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”. “A third wave of infections, even stronger, would overwhelm our healthcare system.”
Each and every one of them can help prevent a new wave of viruses, Reinhardt said. Faced with the high number of infections and the tense situation in hospitals, “everyone should critically wonder if the maximum legal limits for meetings really have to be exhausted.”
“Of course we all want to avoid isolation and loneliness, especially of older family members, during the holidays. But it is precisely this population group that is particularly threatened by Corona, ”said the medical president. The director of the Association of Intensive Care Physicians, Uwe Janssens, also warned of a possible third wave of corona infections in January if citizens do not sufficiently reduce their contacts during Christmas.
In principle, during the current tough lockdown on private gatherings, there is still a maximum limit of five people from two households, not including children up to 14 years of age. Generally, slightly looser rules apply to the Christmas holidays, but they vary across federal states.
South African Mutated Crown Variant Detected in Great Britain
9.24 am A mutation of the South African coronavirus has been detected in Britain, said to be even more contagious than the new variant that has been increasingly found in recent days. This latest mutation is “very concerning because it is more contagious,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday. The latest form of the virus has so far been detected twice in Britain. The London government imposed travel restrictions on South Africa with immediate effect.
Hancock said the two people infected with the latest mutation had been isolated or quarantined as their close contacts. It is not yet clear exactly how much more contagious the new variants of the virus are.
The London government also appealed to all citizens who have been in close contact with people who have been to South Africa in the last two weeks to voluntarily isolate themselves. The Federal Foreign Office also warned on its website Wednesday of a new variant of the corona virus in South Africa. The Federal Ministry of Health in Berlin had already imposed a blanket ban on passengers from Great Britain and South Africa on Tuesday.
Researchers in South Africa also said the latest mutation of the virus appears to be spreading even faster than the previous one, leading to travel restrictions in many countries on traffic with the UK. All of the previous findings “point in this direction,” said Tulio de Oliveira, director of the Krisp research institute at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, the AFP news agency.
There is less testing during the Christmas period
9:20 am Corona labs in Germany have significantly lower testing capabilities than usual over Christmas week, as evident from the Robert Koch Institute status report on Wednesday night. Based on this, labs can perform around 1.2 million PCR tests in week 52 (Dec 21 to Dec 27). For comparison: in week 51, almost 1.6 million tests were carried out in Germany. But there would still be room for improvement, because the capacities were significantly higher, around 2.0 million.
“In general, less testing and reporting activity can be expected during the holidays,” writes the RKI. Therefore, the relevant data can only provide an incomplete picture of the epidemiological situation in Germany. In other words: it may happen that the number of new reported infections decreases over the Christmas period simply because less evidence can be evaluated (read more about the possible gap in the curve here).
In the last calendar week (51), according to the RKI, 57 laboratories reported a delay of a total of 21,364 samples to be processed. This is a bit more than the week before, but a few weeks ago the problem was much bigger. 45 labs named delivery issues, including more plastic consumables and pipette tips.
Doctors Warn of “False Safety” Using Quick Tests During the Holidays
8:27 am: At the beginning of the holiday season, several doctors appeal to observe the crown rules even after a rapid negative corona test. These rapid antigen tests can provide an opportunity before the Christmas visit to better protect family members by allowing a quick statement about the risk of infection for the person being tested.
The tests were certainly justified, but he warned against false security through rapid antigen test results, said Klaus Reinhardt, president of the German Medical Association. Reinhardt recalled that negative test results are always just a snapshot. The tests could be positive the next day. “A negative test result, for example, before family celebrations, should not lead to careless driving,” Reinhardt said in a “Rheinische Post” report.
World Medical President Frank Ulrich Montgomery said in the report that there is great psychological danger with rapid tests: “Those who have a negative rapid test lull themselves and their family members into deceptive security and tend to ignore the rules. aha, “Montgomery said in reference to the generals. Requirements for protection against infection, such as wearing a mask and keeping your distance.
“Many forget that it is just a snapshot of the state of the virus; the disease may have already broken out twelve hours later and remain symptom free,” Montgomery told the “Rheinische Post.” Also, the error rate is significantly higher than with the PCR test, the normal corona test.
Mutated Corona variant also detected in Singapore
08.17 am: The most contagious variant of the coronavirus, which first appeared in the UK, has now been detected in Singapore as well. As announced by the Singapore Ministry of Health, an infection with the B.1.1.7 virus line, which is considered more aggressive, was found in a test of a woman returning from the UK.
The 17-year-old has been studying in the UK since August and was tested at Singapore airport upon her return. Read more about the previously known risk of virus variant B.1.1.7 here.
The situation in Saxony and Thuringia remains particularly tense
7.48 am.: As announced by the Robert Koch Institute on Thursday morning, the so-called 7-day incidence in Germany has risen to a value of 196.2. The day before it was 195.1 nationwide. The value indicates the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants during a period of one week and is an essential criterion to impose and alleviate measures against the spread of the new virus. The goal of the federal government is to reduce the incidence below 50.
Saxony achieved by far the highest value: there, the 7-day incidence is 425.7, that is, more than double the national average. Thuringia follows with a value of 327.9. The lowest value is registered in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 95.6.
A total of 1,587,115 infections and 28,770 deaths have been confirmed since the start of the pandemic, as announced by the RKI. An estimated 1,184,400 people have been recovered.
RKI reports more than 32,000 new infections
07.34 am: Despite the closure, the crown numbers in Germany remain at a high level. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 32,195 new infections on Thursday. This is the second highest value since the pandemic began, after a record 33,777 new cases were registered in 24 hours last Friday.
Furthermore, the value of new infections in the last 24 hours is about 5,300 cases higher than last Thursday, but at that time around 3,500 cases from Baden-Württemberg were not transmitted enough for technical reasons.
As announced by the RKI, another 802 people who tested positive for the virus died. Just the day before there had been a new record of 962 deaths.
At the R value, the RKI saw in its management report on Wednesday night a “recent slightly downward trend”. The seven-day R-value at the national level was 0.92 (previous day: 0.95). This means that, in theory, 100 infected people infect 92 more people. The value represents the appearance of the infection 8 to 16 days ago. If it is below 1 for a long time, the infection process subsides.
The UK is temporarily blocking flights to and from South Africa
12:40 am: The British Ministry of Transport is temporarily blocking flights to and from South Africa due to a new variant of Corona. The country wants to prevent the spread of the virus mutation, which experts suspect has a higher risk of contagion.
