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Corona test disgrace in Bavaria: Söder government in the pillory - now drastic measures are following

2020-08-20T08:29:01.084Z


Corona in Bavaria: Health Minister Huml (CSU) commented on the test breakdowns in a special session of the cabinet. This is followed by drastic measures.


Corona in Bavaria: Health Minister Huml (CSU) commented on the test breakdowns in a special session of the cabinet. This is followed by drastic measures.

  • Tens of thousands of people returning to travel, including around 900 people infected with the corona virus *, did not receive any results from the test stations on Bavarian motorways for weeks.
  • The test breakdown drew wide circles - most recently, Minister of Health Melanie Huml was cross-examined.
  • Now the government around Markus Söder is reacting with drastic measures.

Update, August 20, 9:17 a.m.: After the breakdown in the corona tests of holiday returnees , Prime Minister Markus Söder is rebuilding his cabinet: To improve pandemic crisis management, the previous Secretary of State for Construction and Transport, Klaus Holetschek, will change from this Thursday (August 20) unlimited in the Bavarian Ministry of Health. The lawyer is said to support Minister Melanie Huml (both CSU) , who has recently come under massive criticism, in the fight against the virus.

In the wake of the pandemic , Interior Secretary Gerhard Eck (CSU) was also assigned to the Ministry of Health . After the first wave of infections and the number of infections in Bavaria went down weeks ago, he returned to the Ministry of the Interior.

In addition, the operation of the communal corona test centers will in future be controlled by the Ministry of the Interior . Söder had already appointed State Chancellor Florian Herrmann (CSU) as " Corona coordinator " last week . In order to avoid breakdowns, this should “bundle and coordinate all pandemic-related measures and ensure their implementation”. The head of the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL), Andreas Zapf , has already had to vacate his place. On Wednesday (August 19) it was also announced that the chief spokesman for the Munich police , Marcus da Gloria Martins , was moving to the Ministry of Health for corona communication *.

Corona test disgrace in Bavaria: Söder government in the pillory - Huml comments on errors in cross-examination

Update, 7.30 p.m.: First all clear in the district of Dingolfing-Landau. After Mamming has been a nationwide corona hotspot for the past few days and weeks , the situation is slowly easing. In another series test among the 218 people in quarantine, only two positive cases were found. A total of 250 infections have been detected in harvest workers and employees of a canning factory in the past few weeks .

District Administrator Werner Bumeder said of the new developments: " Of course, every infected person is one too many, but the very low number shows that the chain of infection could also be broken within the employees of the affected companies thanks to the consistent measures taken". The district is now no longer above the critical 7-day value of 50 infected per 100,000 inhabitants of the RKI . A total of 53 people who tested positive are currently in quarantine in the district. 41 cases from the factories in Mamming.

Corona in Bavaria: Early testing of holiday returnees is essential

Update, 3:20 p.m.: The special session of the state parliament's health committee has ended. After the communication breakdown regarding the corona tests, Bavaria's Minister of Health Melanie Huml gets a "watchdog" on the side: Munich's most famous police officer *.

Update, 2:47 p.m.: According to the Corona coordinator of the Bavarian government, Florian Herrmann (CSU) , those returning from vacation are currently one of the greatest challenges in the fight against pandemics. According to previous knowledge, the positive rate of the tests among holidaymakers is 1.3 percent. The average is usually between 0.4 and 0.6 percent, according to Herrmann.

He once again made it clear how important it was to test holiday makers early on . "Two, three, four weeks delay would not have been responsible," said Herrmann. He criticized federal states with external borders, including North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg, which did not offer any tests for returnees during the vacation period.

Corona in Bavaria: Returning vacationers is currently the biggest challenge

The mishap that occurred in the test centers is regrettable . But it is also correct that 1200 infected people could not have been identified if the test centers had not been there so quickly. If no tests are carried out, he thinks this is the bigger basic error, said Herrmann, referring to the practice in other federal states.

Update, 2:07 p.m.: Now the opposition's round of questions begins . Health Minister Melanie Huml (CSU) has to answer questions.

Update, 1:45 p.m.: Florian Herrmann, head of the State Chancellery, is now speaking. “We don't want a second lockdown”. One wants to use the strategy of always staying ahead of the situation. The basic knowledge is that the corona virus is not an issue for party political disputes. One must completely subordinate oneself to science and biology, said Herrmann.

Corona special meeting in Bavaria: Herrmann defends Huml - "Are not infallible"

At the moment, the focus is on those returning from vacation. On July 25, testing began at the airports in Bavaria, making it the first country in Germany. "We marched on," said Herrmann.

“It is true that some tests could not be assigned. However, if we hadn't followed the test strategy, 1,200 people would have walked around without a positive test result. ”Now Herrmann is speaking specifically to Health Minister Melanie Huml. Mistakes shouldn't happen, but they can't be avoided. We are not infallible, ” says Herrmann. Nobody deserves such harsh criticism after working too hard for the past six months.

Update, 1:38 pm: "Yes, mistakes have happened. Yes, there were teething problems , ”said Huml. She ends her statement with an appeal to continue to pull together in order to master the "greatest challenge since World War II". Thus Huml not offer her resignation .

Update, 1:25 p.m.: Health Minister Melanie Huml (CSU) summarizes Bavaria's test strategy again. They were the first country in Germany to react and offer free tests. They knew that the strategy could only be successful if you start quickly. It is now the case that the tests have been run by private service providers.

Corona special meeting in Bavaria: Melanie Huml apologizes in the state parliament

“I want to and I haven't said it nicely. I apologize to everyone , ”said Huml. The manual data acquisition of the tests was the only possibility at the beginning of the test strategy. This made it difficult to assign the findings. You have to say that so clearly. In addition, the demand for tests was extremely high, especially on the motorways. All of this data had to be entered manually at the beginning, says Huml. "Extensive follow-up research was necessary."

Huml goes on to say: "I want to comment on the current headlines." It was hoped that the problem would be resolved on Tuesday evening last week, but this would not have happened. That's why the day after, on Wednesday, they went directly to the public.

Corona in Bavaria: Special meeting is ongoing - Söder application rejected

Update, December 13th: The chairman of the health committee summarizes the topic again. Melanie Huml is now speaking , followed by Florian Herrmann . Right at the beginning comes an application from the opposition, which Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) would like to "reincite" . He is responsible for the mishaps. The vote in the state parliament shows: CSU and Free Voters vote against, the opposition in favor. The application is thus rejected .

Update, 12.47 p.m.: The special session begins in a few minutes, at which Health Minister Melanie Huml (CSU) has to answer questions from the opposition. We report live from 13 hours .

Corona in Bavaria: does Melanie Huml fly? Special session in the live stream

Update, 09:52: The special session on the corona test glitch in Bavaria where the Bavarian Health Minister Melanie Huml (CSU) in parliament again answer questions must be, from 13 hours here in the news ticker streaming LIVE transmitted. It is currently unclear whether there will be other members of the government in addition to Huml - such as Prime Minister Markus Söder .

The background to the special session is that Huml and her ministry apparently knew about the delays in the results before the test breakdown was announced . Huml only announced this to the public and apparently also to Söder two days later. As a justification, she said that the full dimension was only recognizable on the day of the announcement, when it became clear that the people could not be informed quickly as initially hoped. The opposition sees it differently. She accuses the government of ineptitude and unnecessary delay. Also calls for his resignation in Humls direction have already been expressed.

Corona test scandal in Bavaria: Minister Huml probably knew about it earlier - will a resignation now follow?

Update, August 19, 6:52 a.m.: The health committee of the Bavarian state parliament is meeting today (Wednesday) for a special meeting to again talk about the misconduct in the corona tests for travelers returning to Bavaria. The meeting, which was called at the instigation of the opposition, is scheduled at 1 p.m. - despite the parliamentary summer break.

After a breakdown with corona tests in Bavaria: Huml has to answer questions in a special session

It has not yet been determined whether other members of the government will be present in addition to Health Minister Melanie Huml (CSU) . However, the presence of Prime Minister Markus Söder and Minister of State Florian Herrmann (both CSU) had been requested from the opposition circles . Until recently, Herrmann himself headed the state government's disaster management team .

Breakdown with Bavarian corona tests: 46 people could not be identified

Background of the special session is the test breakdown of the Bavarian government at around 44,000 corona tests, the holiday returnees at Bavarian motorway service stations, airports and train stations had are invalid. The data were treated improperly , in the end 949 people who tested positive did not know about their infection. 46 of them have not yet been informed - and probably no longer will.

Corona test breakdown for holiday returnees: Huml knew about it earlier than claimed

It could now be particularly critical for Melanie Huml. The Minister of Health had already offered her resignation twice in the past week - which, however , had been rejected by Prime Minister Söder . On Tuesday (August 18), however, it came out that Huml knew of the test breakdown much earlier than stated .

In a press conference last Wednesday (August 12), Huml claimed to have found out about the breakdown that morning. In fact, she had known about the events since Monday (August 10th). Now Huml has to answer questions again. Whether she will offer her resignation again is unclear, but possible.

A momentous party was also held in a town in Bavaria. The DJ of the celebration was infected with the corona virus *. He had previously returned from a trip to Croatia.

Corona test scandal on Bavarian motorways - Minister Huml apparently knew much earlier

Munich - Bavaria had pushed forward again under Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) in the coronavirus * crisis , apparently wanted to do everything better and faster in the pandemic. Probably a little too fast, as it later turned out, because the Bavarian health department under Melanie Huml (CSU) could not guarantee the smooth test procedure. It wasn't just a lack of staff. The intermediate subcontractors were unable to deliver the tests at short notice. Tens of thousands of people waited an alarmingly long time for their results. Including 900 infected. In the end, some of the volunteers who jumped into the rush for the lack of government personnel on the highways were infected. But that should not be all in the scandal at Bavaria's test stations.

Health Minister Huml is said to have known about the chaos at the Bavarian Corona * test stations much earlier than she had claimed in public. This is reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, citing an email from the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) that the newspaper has received.

Corona test scandal in Bavaria: Did Health Minister Huml know much earlier?

According to this, an email is said to have been sent to the ministerial office on Monday, August 10th at 12.30 p.m. Also to her head of office and another person in the Ministry of Health. In this message, one of the subcontractors who evaluate the Bavarian corona tests on the motorways , the laboratory company Eurofins, reported on the conditions. According to the Süddeutscher Zeitung, the mail said there were more than 40,000 samples and more than 300 positive cases whose results could not be transmitted.

However, Huml only informed the public two days after this email, on Wednesday, August 12, about the chaotic situation around the coronavirus test stations for return travelers . On that Wednesday, she stated that she had only found out about the situation in the morning, just a few hours earlier. Huml does not yet seem to have commented on the allegations that her ministry was informed of the worrying developments days before their hastily convened press conference.

Corona virus in Bavaria: The test scandal is drawing wider circles - Söder has drawn personnel consequences

Huml had subsequently offered Prime Minister Markus Söder to resign. But this refused - but still drew personal consequences. A renowned doctor at the head of the state office had to leave. (nai) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital network.

List of rubric lists: © Peter Kneffel / dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-08-20

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