Coronavirus News on Saturday: The most important developments regarding Sars-Cov-2 and Covid-19

Juncker said the borders between Luxembourg and Germany had been closed for free travel on the 25th anniversary of the Schengen Agreement. Her successor, Ursula von der Leyen, tried at least to restore transport in the domestic market, which was also successful. “The Commission as such and Ms Von der Leyen in particular did not make any mistakes,” said Juncker, who left office in late November. “It is not the Commission’s fault that the Member States have cooked their heads and that everyone has cooked their own crown soup in their own corner.”

European Parliament Vice President Katarina Barley also criticized border controls in the Corona crisis. “If the German federal police are once again armed at the borders where there was fighting in World War II, that is a bad sign. It will cause massive damage to our neighbors,” the European SPD politician told the “Passauer Neue Presse.”

North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) is also increasing pressure on federal interior minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) in the debate over crown-related border closings. “We urgently need to open the border to France,” said the vice president of the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” of the CDU. “The closure ends there on May 11, it would be a good time to signal to our neighbors that we are fighting for a common European response to the pandemic.”

Seehofer wants to maintain the applicable controls at the German borders until at least May 15. He had recently described border controls as “part of our success so far in containing the infection process.” Laschet now replied: “Our problem in Germany was the return trip of our own citizens from ski resorts like Ischgl; the idea that customs controls or borders stop the virus was wrong from the start.”

Laschet, who had maintained open borders with the governments of the Netherlands and Belgium at the start of the Corona crisis, told both newspapers that the federal government should also speak to Austria. The past few weeks have been “too national and too little European.”

The restaurants in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are open to guests.

8:52 a.m .: National premiere: in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, restaurants can reopen from today. The president of the Dehoga industry association in the country, Lars Schwarz, assumed that initially about a third of innkeepers on the Baltic Sea coast or in the Lake District will take advantage of this opportunity. Authorities must meet strict requirements. Then you should Distance rules stay among strangers. Therefore, restaurants could only serve about half of regular guests, Schwarz said. First, only people with primary residence in the state can go to bars. Schwarz recommends all guests book as a precaution – and be prepared for at least one guest per table Leave contact details should. In the event of a new infection, the chain of infection must be reproducible.

The Robert Koch Institute reports 1,251 new infections and 147 new deaths

8:39 am: The number of coronavirus infections detected in Germany has increased to a total of 168,551 at the Robert Koch Institute. This is an increase in infections in 1251 compared to the previous day. The number of deaths increased from 147 to 7369.

Geriatricians visit grandmother: “Take it easy”

8:22 a.m.: Starting today, people in nursing homes and nursing homes in NRW can visit us again. If safety precautions are observed, this is also possible, says Hans Jürgen Heppner, president of the German Geriatric Society. “A visit from grandchildren to grandparents, for a limited time, without physical contact and in compliance with the hygiene rules now known, it is certainly not a problem“The geriatrician also warns:” We all know how much families suffer, and especially grandparents, because they cannot know each other. But take it easy so we don’t run the risk of restrictions being reinstated. “

Greens apparently want to link conditions to Lufthansa rescue

08.09 a.m .: In the SPIEGEL interview, Green Party leader Annalena Baerbock called for a concrete climate plan if state money went to airlines like Lufthansa. However, according to a “Handelsblatt” report, this is far from the only demand the party makes to rescue the battered airlines. “In the case of bailout measures, shareholders and senior staff will have to accept limiting managers’ wages and bonuses and eliminating dividends,” says a four-page author document by the Greens in the Bundestag , of which he cites the “Handelsblatt”.

Greens are also said to be interested in keeping airlines and airports relevant to the system. However, a bailout in the form of state aid worth billions without saying anything is out of the question: “Silent participation is unacceptable“There should also be no share buybacks during the period in which state aid is obtained. The state aid agreement for Lufthansa had recently stalled, also due to the share price announced by the Federal Government.”

Pfizer is preparing for vaccine production.

07.50 a.m .: The American pharmaceutical company Pfizer wants to build capacities in its own plants to be able to produce a large number of coronavirus vaccines after successful tests. Therefore, negotiations with contractors to outsource parts of production, said Pfizer manager Mike McDermott of Reuters news agency. The 200 companies, including Catalent and Lonza, could produce more of the drugs established on behalf of the group, such as other vaccines or intravenous drugs. This would avoid bottlenecks in these funds.

In addition, additional shifts will be held in the company’s own factories, and more and more other media are now produced and stored. Preparing the equipment for production. of the Covid 19 vaccine cost the company, according to the manager at least $ 150 million.

Pfizer and its German partner Biontech announced Tuesday that they have now begun the clinical study for a coronavirus vaccine in the United States. If the vaccine proves to be safe and effective, it could be used on a large scale in the United States by the end of the year. Pfizer could produce 20 million cans by then, which could be several hundred million in the next year.

Haseloff wants a stricter upper limit for Saxony-Anhalt

07.41 a.m.: Corona cases in Saxony-Anhalt were low, and Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff went ahead with the lowering of the bans. Instead of just one person outside your home, you could meet five other people there early. But now the CDU politician has announced that, if necessary, he wants to tighten the screw much earlier than agreed by the federal and state governments.

“We will take a much more careful approach than that agreed by the federal government,” Haseloff told the “Tagesspiegel.” Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s heads have agreed to withdraw the calm if more than 50 new infections occur for every 100,000 inhabitants in a district within seven days.

“I think it is imperative to react earlier to the increasing local number of infections,” Haseloff told the newspaper. “So that a second wave can’t even arise.” Despite the many different announcements in the federal states, the head of government emphasized that the federal and state governments are still “90 percent traveling in a common corridor” with their regulations.

Halles Mayor Bernd Wiegand (not part) announced Wednesday an upper limit of 35 new infections per week and 100,000 residents for his city. This number had been the peak in recent weeks. Magdeburg would also intervene early, said Mayor Lutz Trümper (SPD). “But not paralyzing the entire city.” Rather, it must be decided locally how the situation can be contained.

The infection rate in Saxony-Anhalt is relatively low; In the country with just under 2.2 million inhabitants, the number of new infections registered was the last day in the low two-digit range. The country is far from the agreed quota. Even Halle, the district with the most infections in the country, was not close to reaching the quota recently.

Magician Roy Horn dies after crown infection

07.33 a.m.: The German magician duo “Siegfried & Roy” was world famous for their appearances with tigers and lions in Las Vegas. Roy Horn died at the age of 75 as a result of an infection with the new coronavirus.

Nursing home visits are allowed again at NRW

07.20 a.m.: North Rhine-Westphalia already allows visits to the elderly and nursing homes starting this Saturday. “This allows households to better manage the flow of visitors on Mother’s Day weekend and can ultimately provide relief,” a Health Ministry spokesman said. According to the regulation, each resident can receive a maximum of one visit per day, a maximum of two people.

The Ministry of Health had initially announced that the visitation ban due to the crown pandemic, which had been in force since mid-March, would be lifted on Mother’s Day, that is, this Sunday. However, the Crown Protection Ordinance stipulated that the relaxation in inpatient health and care facilities would take effect on May 9.

The protection measures developed are associated with the lifting of the visitation ban. This includes registration and a brief health examination of all visitors, visitor boxes with enough space and partitions, support on the way through the houses and complete disinfection after the visit. Visiting time is limited, generally 20 to 30 minutes.

However, the rapid opening of retirement homes after a long ban on visits is met with skepticism and criticism from federal state institutions due to short preparation time.