Corona summit live: Germany ahead of mega lockdown - First details from Merkel's draft resolution leaked

At the Corona summit on Tuesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel will decide with the Prime Minister to extend the lockdown.

First details leaked.

• At the

  Corona

  * summit

  on Tuesday, January 19, an extension of the

  lockdown

  in

  Germany

  is expected to be

  decided.

• Chancellor Angela Merkel * (CDU) and the Prime Ministers want to react to the virus mutation *.

• Scientists around the virologist

  Hendrik Streek are

  calling for a rethink of the applicable regulations

  (see update from January 18, 10:01 p.m.)

• This news ticker is updated regularly.

Update from January 19, 9.48 a.m.:

Further details from the

federal resolution

proposal

apparently provide that medical masks should become mandatory in the future in transport and shops.

At least that is Angela Merkel's proposal, which

Bild

quotes in a report and which should also be available to n-tv.

Cloth masks would then be taboo.

In addition, it should continue to apply that each household may only meet one additional person from another household.

Apparently it is being considered how one can manage to keep the circle of these people as constant as possible.

Schools

are to remain "generally" closed until February 15, daycare centers remain in emergency operation.

In order

to provide

more protection in

old people's and nursing homes

, at least the federal government apparently plans to introduce an FFP2 mask requirement for staff when they are in contact with residents.

According to the two media, there is also something in the federal resolution

proposal

on the subject of

home office

: According to this, a general obligation to work from home should not come, but an ordinance from the Ministry of Labor should ensure that employers must enable home office, if the activity allows it.

Corona summit: Merkel's draft resolution leaked - are the countries participating uniformly?

The

15-kilometer radius

is apparently also to be adjusted: If districts do not foreseeably not reach the seven-day incidence below 50 by February 15, regions that have not yet been designated as hotspots - incidence below 200 - should also take further action.

Regionally, according to the draft resolution, it is about exit restrictions or the restriction of the radius of movement to 15 kilometers around the place of residence.

All measures will be

discussed

from 2 p.m. at the

Corona summit

.

It is still unclear to what extent Merkel can enforce her demands against the countries.

Update from January 19, 9:16 a.m.:

Angela Merkel supposedly wants an

extension of the corona measures

until February 15.

This emerges from a draft resolution from the federal government, which

Bild

reports.

Update from January 19, 8:43 a.m.:

Before the federal and state governments discuss further

corona measures in

the afternoon

, the rulers listened to a panel of experts on Monday evening.

The

image

, according to the appointment lasted more than three hours, eight scientists were essentially loaded - including

Christian Drosten and Lothar Wieler.

Virologist Drosten is said to have gone into the genome analysis again.

According

to the

Bild

report,

he spoke out in

favor of promoting an intra-European exchange.

It has not yet been fully clarified how far the more contagious

virus variants are

already spread.

Corona summit: Molecular biologist calls for sharp lockdown - concern about corona mutations

According to the

Spiegel

report,

Rolf Apweiler

, molecular biologist, spoke out in

favor of a

sharp lockdown

in order to reduce the number of infections with regard to the risk of mutations.

Vaccinate quickly, close schools, work from home: he thinks that makes sense.

Virologist

Melanie Brinkmann

from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research is said to have told the participants that this is the "most critical moment in the pandemic".

The new virus variant will be able to prevail against the others.

She therefore also advocated the goal of getting the incidences down to zero.

Everything else is just a middle ground.

According to the

picture,

psychologist

Cornelia Betsch

spoke out in

favor of speaking differently about the pandemic so that fighting the virus would be perceived more as “self-interest”.

According to the two reports, the expert opinions sound more like a tightening of the lockdown instead of "just" an extension.

But there is also a debate about the choice of academics.

+

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) will consult with the Prime Minister on Tuesday about how to proceed with the Corona crisis.

(Archive image)

© Michael Kappeler / AFP / POOL

Corona summit with Merkel: night curfew?

More home office?

Update from January 19, 6.41 a.m.:

From 2 p.m. it's that time again:

Chancellor Angela Merkel

and the 16 prime ministers join forces for the next

Corona summit

.

The extension of the current

lockdown

in Germany

seems pretty clear

.

To what extent will be sharpened again remains to be seen.

We are talking about increased home office obligations, FFP2 mask requirements as in Bavaria, and possibly night curfews.

Some prime ministers have announced press statements for 6 p.m.

Let's see how long the negotiations will take place this Tuesday.

An

expert hearing

took

place on Monday evening in preparation

.

According to

Spiegel

information, many scientists warned against a mere extension, instead a

tough lockdown

was

needed

.

Virus mutations in

particular

, which are supposed to spread much faster, are buzzing in the back of the mind.

Corona lockdown: extension and tightening in discussion - survey among Germans

The

Marburger Bund doctors' association is urging

a further

extension of

the lockdown in order to avert severe corona cases not only in intensive care units.

Chairwoman Susanne Johna told the German Press Agency: "The current contact restrictions seem to be more and more effective." The chosen path should therefore continue to be followed until the number of infections can be controlled again.

"We still urgently need relief in the clinics."

Meanwhile, a clear majority of Germans support an

extension of the corona lockdown

beyond January 31.

In a

survey by

the YouGov opinion research institute on behalf of the German Press Agency, 40 percent even spoke out in favor of tightening the existing measures to contain the

corona pandemic

, and a further 21 percent are in favor of maintaining the previous restrictions.

Only 13 percent called for an end to the lockdown, 17 percent for an easing.

Eight percent gave no information.

Before the Corona summit with Merkel: Expert council from NRW writes letters and calls for rethinking

Update from January 18, 10:01 p.m

.: Before the federal-state meeting on Tuesday, the federal government is faced with criticism.

The Corona Expert Council of North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister and designated CDU boss

Armin Laschet

chooses clear words in the direction of

Angela Merkel

& Co. In a three-page letter, scientists around the virologist

Hendrik Streek

call for

a rethinking of the applicable regulations.

The second sentence of the paper immediately comes up with the accusation that the previous measures “did not bring the success desired by politicians.” Even if the number of infections has fallen, “the general, preventive strategy of

lockdown has

the vulnerable groups - people in the elderly - and nursing homes as well as in general in older age - not sufficiently helped. "

+

Armin Laschet (r) trusts the "Expert Council Corona" in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Among other things, he is advised by the Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck (l).

(Archive photo)

© Federico Gambarini / dpa

Before Corona summit: criticism of the government - "neither factual nor expedient"

Because, in addition, “many economic existences” are faced with “hopelessness”, politics runs “the risk of no longer reaching and convincing the population as a whole.” The communication of the measures is too “unspecific” and therefore “neither factual nor in view of it targeting the social mood. "

Therefore, one now has to stop “merely reacting to current developments depending on the situation.” This requires “the strength not to present one's own action as having no alternative, but to convey it as a time-based selection from a range of different possibilities.”

In the letter, the experts also criticize the current state of research and complain about a lack of knowledge: "It is astonishing and unacceptable that

too little is known

about the places of infection and the dynamics of the epidemiological events since the

lockdown

in spring 2020."

“Looking at the future normality to be described” would ultimately lead to “significant questions”.

Specifically: “How do we shape the

lockdown

for the next few months, especially taking into account the collateral effects that are escalating in existential worries, and by no means only of an economic nature?

How and under what conditions do we organize the process of successive opening?

How do we prevent a third

lockdown

in the high risk phase ahead

? ”Questions that the prime ministers could deal with on Tuesday.

Merkel's corona summit: is the mega lockdown coming?

Experts demand a clear line - "no half measures"

First report from January 18, 2021

:

Berlin - The

corona lockdown

is likely to be extended.

That much had already

leaked

before the

Corona summit

from Chancellor

Angela Merkel

* (CDU) and the Prime Minister.

And that, although the number of reported new infections in the wake of the hard

lockdown

has finally been slowly falling since December, the situation in the German

intensive care units has

eased slightly.

But the look at the coronavirus mutation in England stirs up a deep-seated, only seemingly forgotten fear in many: The tragic images from Bergamo in spring 2020.

"We have a considerable risk - that is the risk of

mutation,

" said government spokesman Steffen Seibert on Monday in the federal press conference, one day before the

Corona summit

.

In other countries, the infection curves have risen abruptly.

The virus variant B.1.1.7.

is apparently many times more contagious than the original

Sars-CoV-2 variant

.

Merkel's Corona summit: RKI reported 7141 new infections within 24 hours on Monday

The

Robert Koch Institute (RKI)

reported 7141 new infections

on Monday.

Comparably little if you think of the almost 30,000

new infections

in 24 hours in December.

But the comparison with the sad peak values ​​alone is not enough to assess the situation as relaxed.

The

RKI continues to

describe the

incidence

and

risk of infection

as "very high", as stated in the institute's management report on Monday, January 18.

The 7-day incidence on Monday is 134 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

The

7-day R-value

is 0.89.

Before Merkel's Corona summit: Markus Söder announces lockdown extension until mid-February

Even before

Merkel's Corona summit

with the

Prime Minister

, further drastic

measures

are being discussed.

There

is talk of

ultra lockdown

.

Schools and daycare centers could be closed completely,

curfews

tightened - and the

contact restrictions

could also be sharpened.

A

home office invitation

to companies is also under discussion.

Such tightening can

hardly be justified politically

on the basis of the

current infection

situation.

But the look at

Great Britain

and

Ireland is

frightening.

The risk posed by the mutation is included in the decisions.

Chancellor Angela Merkel recently spoke of a possible tenfold * in incidence by Easter - experts rated this horror scenario as realistic.

"Anyone who loosens up overnight now risks the numbers skyrocketing - Ireland has experienced that tragically," said Bavarian

Prime Minister Markus Söder

in an interview with

Münchner Merkur

* on Monday.

The

lockdown

would be extended until

mid-February

, he announced at the same time.

Again, Söder * wants to plead for the implementation of the strict Bavarian rules such as curfew, FFP2 mask requirement and radius of movement in the other federal states.

Corona summit: Merkel's crisis management under criticism - experts clearly demand a decision

At least with regard to the

extension of the lockdown, there

seems to be an

agreement

on the day before

Merkel's Corona summit

.

Support can also be heard from expert circles - but with one

point of criticism

: "It makes no sense to do things by halves because that unnecessarily prolongs the lockdown," says Viola Priesemann, physicist and research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization .

The researcher pleaded before the

federal-state consultations

on the

Corona

* course

on Monday in the Corona special committee of the state parliament in Hanover for a short but hard lockdown.

In neighboring countries such as France, Belgium and Austria, it was possible to sustainably reduce the number of cases.

Politicians must now make a clear decision.

A compromise in the measures does not help.

Merkel's Corona Summit: Virologist Streeck criticizes contact restrictions in the open air

The

Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck is

also a

critic of the crisis management of the federal and state governments in the

special Corona meeting

.

He urgently advised the development of a better database on the

corona epidemic

.

In the majority, one does not know where people were infected, whether certain professions might be particularly affected, how well hygiene concepts work and to what extent an

infection process can

still be controlled.

There was no guideline and long-term management of the epidemic with foresight.

"Numbers games and threatening predictions don't help."

Both Priesemann and Streeck criticized the

contact restrictions

in the

open air

.

There, if distance rules are observed, the risk of infection is 20 times lower, said Priesemann.

The negative consequence of the restriction is that people then meet in secret at home, where mostly no masks are worn, said Streeck.

(nai) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital network.

List of rubric lists: © imago images / Future Image / Christoph Hardt