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The federal and state governments will likely extend the crown lockdown until January 31. This was reported by various media outlets. “Except for two countries, they are all for the end of January,” the Reuters news agency said, citing negotiating circles. The final decision will be made on Tuesday by Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 leaders. He too image– The newspaper reported that the confinement would last until the end of the month.
NRW: Vaccinations for Hospital Employees Beginning January 18
In North Rhine-Westphalia, starting on January 18, corona vaccines will be offered to all hospital employees who work close to Covid patients. NRW Minister of Health Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) announced in Düsseldorf.
Laumann also said that the vaccination centers would be operational from February, even offering vaccines to people over 80 years old in the country. Those affected would receive a corresponding letter in the coming days. In this second wave, employees in ambulatory care services will also be offered a corresponding offer. Laumann expects vaccinations of those over 80 to take place in February and March.
Climate target for 2020 reached due to the pandemic
Germany had set a climate protection target for last year that was 40 percent fewer emissions than in 1990, but the prospects of achieving it were slim. The pandemic has now apparently ensured that greenhouse gas emissions have declined even further – by 42.3 percent. Without the coronavirus, according to the analysis, Germany would have reduced its CO₂ emissions by 37.8 percent compared to 1990. This was the result of an analysis by the expert group Agora Energiewende.
According to estimates, emissions decreased by more than 80 million tons of CO₂ to around 722 million tons. Two thirds of this reduction is a consequence of the corona pandemic, without it the decrease would only have been around 25 million tons and the 2020 target would have been lost.
In particular, energy consumption fell significantly last year due to the pandemic. According to experts, there were also relatively high CO₂ prices in the EU, making it more expensive to produce climate-damaging electricity from coal, as well as low gas prices and a mild winter with not as much heating . According to Agora’s analysis, in 2020 more electricity was generated from wind power than coal for the first time in Germany.
“There were only real effects of climate protection in 2020 in the electricity sector, because here the reduction of CO₂ can be traced back to the substitution of coal for gas and renewables,” explained Agora Energiewende director Patrick Graichen. “Traffic and industry will again emit more greenhouse gases as soon as the economy recovers.” By 2021, expect more emissions overall. “You can only counteract this by acting quickly on climate policy.”
According to the analysis, renewables provided 46.2 percent of electricity in Germany, 3.8 percentage points more than the previous year. Without Corona and the 3.6 percent decline in electricity demand, the share of renewables would have been just 44.6 percent in 2020, he said. In general, a large amount of wind energy and increased production of wind energy in the sea, that is, through wind farms in the sea, are responsible for two thirds of the increase in green electricity, one third is due to solar systems.
The expansion of onshore wind turbines in particular, but also solar systems, is still far from sufficient to meet climate protection targets by 2030, Graichen warned. So far, this target has been 55 percent less CO₂ emissions than in 1990. However, in December, the EU states decided to adjust the EU-wide target from 40 to 55 percent reduction; this should also have consequences for Germany. Agora Energiewende, for example, predicts that CO₂ prices for energy production will continue to rise, putting further pressure on coal and lignite power plants.
RKI reports decreasing numbers with little informative value
German health authorities reported 9,847 new corona infections in one day. In addition, 302 new deaths were registered in 24 hours, as announced in the morning by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). However, interpreting the data is currently difficult, because fewer people are likely to be tested over the Christmas holidays and around the turn of the year, and not all offices may transmit their data. According to the RKI, this can result in late registrations.
On Wednesday (December 30) the maximum of 1,129 new deaths was reached. For new infections registered within 24 hours, the highest value was reported on December 18, at 33,777, but it contained 3,500 late reports.
The number of new infections per 100,000 population (incidence of seven days) reported to health authorities in seven days was 139.4 on Monday morning. Its previous high was reached on December 22 at 197.6. However, the differences between federal states are huge: Saxony had the highest incidences on Monday with 323.0 and Thuringia with 251.4. Schleswig-Holstein had the lowest value with 78.2.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the RKI has counted 1,775,513 infections detected with Sars-CoV-2 in Germany (as of January 4, 00:00). The total number of people who died with or with participation from a proven Sars-CoV-2 infection increased to 34,574. The RKI indicated that the number of recovered people was around 1,401,200.
According to the RKI report on Sunday, the seven-day R-value nationwide was 0.91 (Saturday: 0.95). This means that 100 infected people infect 91 more people. The value represents the onset of the infection eight to 16 days ago. If it is below 1 for a long time, the infection process subsides. The RKI emphasizes, however, that the R value may be underestimated due to lags.
