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Leading German epidemiology experts, including Lothar Wieler, director of the Robert Koch National Institute of Public Health (RKI), highlighted the impossibility of controlling the spread of the new type of coronavirus and eliminating the risk of overloading the health care system.
Therefore, it is inevitable that the previous “slight” partial short circuit will be replaced by a “hard” short circuit, which will freeze the life of the country.
It was explained that restrictions introduced in early November and tightened in the meantime have reduced the number of people at risk of infection by about 43 percent compared to previous restrictions. This is below the level of around 60 percent measured in European countries that have successfully braked the second wave of the epidemic, such as Ireland, and well below the 63 percent measured in Germany during the first wave of spring.
The measures have not lived up to expectations, the number of new infections recorded each day is too high and the epidemic is claiming hundreds of lives every day.
At the same time, the Christmas season offers good “framework conditions” to reverse the trend, because life is always calmer, economic activity slows, and most public institutions take a break, thus automatically reducing the number of contacts and meetings with risk of contagion. On the basis of this starting position, a two-stage short circuit according to Leopoldina should be requested.
As of December 14, compulsory schooling should be suspended and face-to-face meetings should be reduced to the minimum necessary. Therefore, all businesses, government agencies and other organizations should, as far as possible, switch to working from home. In the second phase, which begins on December 24, all stores and other service providers with the exception of stores that sell essential products for daily life must be closed and contact in the field of family life must be kept to the minimum necessary , so this year not only trips, excursions, but family gatherings should also be discarded during the holidays.
Germany must persevere in this closed state until January 10 to start the new year in the hope of alleviating the epidemic, according to a Leopoldina resolution, which includes a series of proposed details, including a draft regulation on the extension of use of masks.
According to unanimous press reports, Chancellor Angela Merkel is also urging a tightening, suspension of retail trade and the extension of the Christmas school holidays. He plans to hold an extraordinary meeting with the so-called Prime Minister’s Conference (MPK), the conciliatory body of provincial heads of government, again shortly to decide on further restrictions.
According to RKI data from Tuesday, 14,054 infections have been tested in the past 24 hours, about 3 percent more than 13,604 the previous week. 423 deaths in one day were reported in relation to coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Along with the new cases, nearly 1.2 million infections were detected by virus tests, and the number of deaths from the epidemic rose to 19,342 in Germany.
The number of people in need of intensive care due to Covid-19 rose by 71 to 4,179 in one day, according to the latest summary from the Professional Organization for Intensive Care and Accident Care (DIVI) on Monday. 60 percent (2,513 patients) need mechanical ventilation. According to the report, 27,291 intensive care beds are operated nationwide, of which 5,450 are free beds.
Cover Image Source: MTI / Alexander Becher
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