Germany warning: a new direction of the pandemic is observed

The proportion of new infections with the German coronavirus strain B.1.1.7 in Germany has risen by about 40% in recent months, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.

“The B.1.1.7 variety is expected to soon become dominant in Germany,” Lothar Wieler, director of the Robert Koch Institute, told reporters in Berlin.

“When that happens, it will be even more difficult to control the virus,” he said.

At the same conference, Health Minister Jens Spahn spoke and said that the number of new infections, despite the measures introduced, is stagnant and in some areas has started to grow again.

Officials commented just days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with federal state prime ministers on gradual easing of quarantine restrictions.

Koch Institute: British strain of coronavirus is most dangerous for all age groups

The mutated coronavirus, which was first detected in the UK and is considered more contagious, is more dangerous for all age groups, but vaccines are effective in fighting it.

Lothar Wieler, director of the Robert Koch Institute in Germany, told reporters in Berlin on Friday.

“This option is more contagious and dangerous, by the way, for all age groups,” said the specialist. According to him, “all vaccines used in Germany protect the body very well against the disease” caused by this mutation.

Already in Germany, almost 50 percent. new cases of infection include the British strain of coronavirus.

About 83 million people live in Germany. people. In the country, vaccination against the coronavirus began at the end of December last year. Residents are vaccinated with the BioNTech / Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines. About 5 percent have been vaccinated so far. German population.

German Chancellor Merkel announced Wednesday that coronavirus restrictions will be gradually eased in the country starting next week as pressure mounts from regional leaders and the public for more freedom after a few months of shutdown.

Merkel, who announced a “new phase of the pandemic,” said more households would be allowed to communicate from Monday.

Additionally, bookstores, florists, and garden centers will reopen across the country. Further relaxation of restrictions will be closely related to local morbidity levels, he said after speaking with German state leaders.

Border controls

Last Sunday, Germany added the French department of the Moselle, which was badly affected by the coronavirus, to the list of high-risk areas for coronavirus strains and stricter controls on those who cross the Franco-German border.

The eastern Moselle region of France is now classified as an area “at a particularly high risk of infection due to widespread strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” said the German Robert Koch Institute for Disease Control.

As of Tuesday, those arriving in Germany from the Moselle must report a negative result on a recent coronavirus test.

Germany already applies strict control measures on its borders with the Czech Republic and Austria’s Tyrol region, despite calls from Brussels to keep the internal borders of the European Union open. Only German and non-German residents can enter such checkpoints, as well as people working in certain job categories who have to cross the border.

All cars stop at the border and their occupants must give a negative answer to a test carried out in the last 48 hours.

On the German side, controls at the border with the Moselle are less strict, a spokesman for the German Interior Ministry told AFP. Instead of a systematic check, the police officers randomly stop the vehicles on the German side and ask the drivers to submit a “negative test and an online entry registration form”.

Germany told the European Union this week that it would maintain border restrictions with neighboring countries, although the European Commission has warned that they could undermine freedom of movement within the bloc.

Germany is in a “high-risk situation” due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in neighboring countries, its EU ambassador, Michael Clauss, wrote in a letter. The AFP news agency saw a letter on Wednesday stating Monday’s date.

This was in response to a letter sent last week by the European Commission warning Germany and five other EU countries – Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hungary and Sweden – about the measures they are taking and which they consider too strict.

Germany has been criticized for failing to follow the EU’s recommendations on travel restrictions to combat the spread of the pandemic coronavirus. Berlin severely restricted connections with the Austrian region of Tyrol, as well as with the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The letter from the European Commission notes that the incidence is not higher in the Czech Republic and Slovakia than in some other EU countries, and says that German authorities do not accept the results of COVID-19 tests in Czech and Slovak.

In its response, Germany stated that the restrictions complied with EU standards of non-discrimination and proportionate response to the threat, “taking into account the specific situation in the border regions”.

Berlin claims that in any case it has the right to “repeal in individual cases” the EU recommendations on “health protection”. Decisions in this area are made by the EU Member States, not the bloc.

The letter also says that the restrictions do not prevent the cross-border movement of goods.

The European Commission must now assess whether Germany has adequately responded to the formal notification letter.

If the Commission decides that the answer is not satisfactory, in theory it will have the possibility to take legal action against Berlin, although it has never done so in the prerogatives of the Member States.