[ad_1]
The federal government is checking whether travel to popular overseas vacation areas can be temporarily avoided due to the corona pandemic. There is a corresponding trial order, said deputy government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer in Berlin on Wednesday. “This is now being verified by the responsible departments,” Demmer said.
In recent days it has been argued that international flights for vacationers should not be canceled, but that vacations in their own country should not be possible. The starting point was that Mallorca was no longer considered a risk area. The federal government had lifted the travel advisory due to the sharp decline in the number of infections. This also removed the quarantine for returnees. This has led to a booking boom, but also heated discussions about whether you are risking a new source of infection.
However, at the federal-state meeting on Monday, it was decided that in the future a test requirement should be introduced for all air passengers entering Germany. The trial order now goes further. Demmer did not give details of the test. However, a spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office said a global travel warning like the one for the start of the pandemic last spring has yet to be planned.
Merkel explains crown policy in the Bundestag
After massive criticism, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) decided to stop the federal-state decision on the so-called Easter break. In the Bundestag, the chancellor answered the questions of the deputies on the subject. At first, Merkel repeated the statement she had previously made to the press.
“This mistake is my only mistake. Because in the end I have the maximum responsibility for everything, it is qua office,” said the Chancellor. Each mistake must be named and corrected as such, Merkel stressed and received the applause of parliamentarians for it. We apologize for this, “that the whole process has generated additional uncertainty.” In response to inquiries and requests, Merkel made it clear that she did not want to ask for a vote of confidence in the Bundestag.
The Chancellor had previously announced her decision to the Prime Minister at a briefly scheduled conference. On Tuesday night, the federal and state governments decided, among other things, to tighten the blockade of Easter from April 1 to 5 to close public, private and economic life with more force. Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday must be declared as days of rest. However, there was massive criticism about it and there was also a lot of confusion about practical implementation.
In the Bundestag, the chancellor declared that she was sure: “Together we will defeat the virus.” The road is hard and rocky, “but the virus will lose its horror.”
On the issue of masks in the parliamentary group of the Union, the chancellor said that “things have happened that must be condemned.” However, he defended the federal government’s mask acquisition policy in the first wave of pandemics. Supports “expressly” the new rules of transparency that the group is giving. In principle, he came out against banning MPs from outside employment, because “a diverse parliament” has its advantages.
When asked if the prime minister’s round is still the right place for individual decisions in the Corona crisis, Merkel stuck to decision-making with the country’s leaders. The round is necessary. “I think there have already been a lot of very, very good decisions with prime ministers,” Merkel said. It does not exclude the participation of Parliament. It was also agreed with the Prime Minister to discuss an improvement in the way of working. There is a tension between the federal government and the states. “I have to endure this stress.”
Merkel also emphasized the respective responsibilities of the federal and state governments in crisis management. “Each level of democracy has its responsibility.” The federal government can support a lot, but not do everything. “The distribution of self-evaluations in schools is not really one of the tasks that a federal government can do,” said the Chancellor, referring to the states and municipalities.
Seehofer criticizes resolutions on religious services
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) has criticized the federal state’s decision on Easter services. In it, religious communities are asked to hold meetings during Easter only virtually to protect themselves against the coronavirus. “I was surprised that of all the holidays that have the C in their name, churches suggest that they refrain from worshiping, especially at Easter,” Seehofer said. picture.
Seehofer made it clear that this was not a ban or a requirement to cancel religious services at Easter. “I would like to point out that this is a request,” he emphasized. “My house did not make this suggestion either, although we are responsible for religions. Instead, very early in the pandemic, the Ministry of the Interior developed hygiene concepts together with the churches, which still function perfectly today.”
Merkel and the prime ministers of the federal states agreed early Tuesday that there should be additional restrictions during Easter to break the third crown wave. Public, private and economic life must rest to a great extent from Holy Thursday to Easter Monday. Religious groups were asked to hold meetings only virtually.
However, the Catholic and Protestant churches have already made it clear that they do not want to do without attending worship services. The president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, and the president of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, said Tuesday that the federal and state governments were surprised. Talks between the churches and the federal government were already underway on Tuesday at the working level.
In the conversations it must be made clear that opening the doors of the church at Easter is something different than opening any store, said the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Thomas Sternberg, of the publishing network Germany. “That is not careless, but it can be done responsibly while observing strict rules.”
Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) said on ZDF whether services should actually only take place virtually is still open. “We know this is a special field. So we want to talk first before making a decision.” Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer made it clear that his country will not ban churches from attending religious services. At the ARD, the CDU politician said Tuesday night: “We shouldn’t pretend that as politics.” He has no doubt that “the churches, the religious communities, will find a wise and responsible way.”
More than 75,000 dead since the pandemic began
In Germany, more than 75,000 people have died in relation to the coronavirus since the pandemic began more than a year ago. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 248 more deaths in the past 24 hours on Wednesday morning. The total number of corona deaths in Germany rose to 75,212.
Health authorities informed the RKI of 15,813 new infections in one day. Exactly a week ago, the RKI had recorded 13,435 new infections and 249 new deaths in one day. According to the RKI, the seven-day incidence across the country on Wednesday morning was 108.1, and therefore at the same level as the day before.
The seven-day national R-value was, according to RKI’s situation report on Tuesday night, 1.04 (previous day 1.12). This means that 100 infected people infect 104 more people. The value represents the onset of the infection 8 to 16 days ago. If it is below 1 for a longer period of time, the infection process subsides; if it is constantly higher, the number of cases increases.
The blockade will be extended and reinforced during Easter
In light of the further increase in the number of corona infections, the federal and state governments are sending Germany into the sharpest lockdown since the pandemic began a year ago. From April 1 to April 5 inclusive, that is, from Holy Thursday to Easter Monday, public, economic and private life will be largely closed to break the third wave of the pandemic. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the prime ministers of the federal states decided on Tuesday night after more than eleven hours of deliberation. In view of the current “difficult phase of the pandemic”, “very unconventional measures had to be taken,” Merkel said. The lockdown to combat the corona pandemic will run until April 18.
Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday are once defined as “days of rest” and are associated with extensive contact restrictions. When asked which businesses they can open, he said that the existing regulations for Sundays and holidays had been used as a guide. Gas stations, for example, would remain open. In general, however, “the principle: we stay home” applies to the five days, Merkel said. Private gatherings should be limited to your own home and one other household, but no more than five people. Children up to 14 years old are not counted. Couples are considered one household. A small exception applies to Holy Saturday: on this day “food trade in the strictest sense” is allowed to remain open.
According to the decision, meetings in public spaces are generally prohibited during this period. Where the outdoor catering is already open, it has to be closed again during these five days. Churches and religious communities are asked to only bid online for believers at Easter. Only vaccination and testing centers should remain open.
This was preceded by the most difficult round of negotiations between the Chancellor and state leaders since the outbreak of the pandemic. The negotiations lasted more than eleven hours, due to a dispute over the so-called “low contact holidays” in his own state, however, the big round was interrupted for hours. Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt and Rhineland-Palatinate insisted that their citizens should be able to vacation in vacation flats, holiday homes, apartments, caravans and mobile homes, provided they have their own sanitary facilities. y They can also organize their own meals. Nothing else can be found in the resolution. Chancellor Merkel was reportedly dissatisfied with the interruption of deliberations. You have argued that the measures taken then were not sufficient to break the dynamics of the infection. You couldn’t survive in public like this.
In view of the exponential growth of infections, the chancellor and the prime minister decided that the emergency brake agreed in early March should be applied consistently. Starting with a seven-day incidence of more than 100 new infections per 100,000 residents, districts must implement additional measures. Possible options include exit restrictions, more stringent contact restrictions, or the obligation to perform daily rapid tests in areas where it is difficult to maintain distance or wear a mask consistently.
For tourists abroad, a general obligation to test before the return flight will be introduced by an amendment to the Infection Protection Act. It should be a requirement for entry to Germany. Even now, travelers coming from “high incidence areas” with a particularly high number of infections and areas with new virus variants must present a negative test upon departure.
