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An employee at the Schwerin health department shows on the screen how individual cases of infection are recorded
Photo: Bernd Wüstneck / dpa
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Montgomery: Critical threshold at 20,000 new infections per day
12:45 a.m.:
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, expects a critical threshold of 20,000 new infections per day in the event of a further increase in the corona numbers.
"With 20,000 new infections a day, the situation gets out of hand," said Montgomery of the "Rheinische Post" (Friday).
"Then it would no longer be possible for health authorities to trace and interrupt the chains of infection. Then we are threatened with a second lockdown, because the virus can no longer be stopped otherwise."
The number of detected new corona infections within one day had recently risen sharply again and exceeded the value of 10,000 cases for the first time.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, the health authorities reported 11,287 cases within 24 hours on Thursday morning.
Montgomery welcomed the restrictions imposed in the particularly affected district of Berchtesgadener Land, where strict exit restrictions have been in place since Tuesday.
"We have to react consistently to local outbreaks," said the former President of the German Medical Association.
"That is why it is exactly right that the Berchtesgaden district has imposed a local lockdown. All towns across Germany should react with such incidence values."
Medical Association: Have not lost control
00:30:
The head of the association for doctors in the public health service, Ute Teichert, currently sees no
loss of
control of the health authorities in the corona pandemic.
"I do not think that we are at the point where we have lost control," said the chairwoman of the Federal Association of Doctors of the Public Health Service on Thursday evening in the ARD "Tagesthemen".
Due to the increasing number of infections, there is certainly a problem "that we can no longer keep up with the personnel situation," said Teichert.
"But it is not yet that we no longer have the situation under control."
When asked whether one should say goodbye to the tracking of every single case when tracking contacts in order to pursue local clusters and thus break the large chains of infection, Teichert said: "In fact, it would be good if one looked primarily at the clusters. But that would mean that overall a change in strategy would be needed in society. "
You have to think carefully about that, and everyone has to support it.
Because that ultimately means that you have to go into quarantine just because you were part of a cluster.
If you want to do this, the legal basis must also be created, says Teichert.
"I think it will be difficult overall."
On Thursday, the Robert Koch Institute in Germany reported more than 11,000 new infections in one day for the first time.
The fear of a further surge in the number of cases is growing.
The health authorities are heavily burdened in the corona crisis.
The federal and state governments want to create at least 5,000 new jobs in the public health service by the end of 2022.
USA
approves
drug
Remdesivir
for the treatment of Covid patients
12:15 a.m
.: The US drug agency has approved the drug Remdesivir for the treatment of Covid-19 diseases.
That comes from a communication.
So far, the agent from the US manufacturer Gilead Sciences had an emergency approval there.
In Europe, the drug was the first drug to receive approval subject to conditions for the specific treatment of certain Covid-19 patients in July.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration, remdesivir can shorten the duration of illness caused by infection with the coronavirus.
This has been sufficiently proven.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced last week that several potential corona drugs checked in worldwide test series had shown little or no benefit.
This included remdesivir.
However, the data from the solidarity study coordinated by the WHO had not yet appeared in any peer-reviewed journal and had not been examined by scientists.
New high for new infections in Italy
12:10 a.m
.: Italy has recorded more than 16,000 new infections with the coronavirus within 24 hours - more than ever since the beginning of the pandemic.
The country's health authorities reported 16,079 new corona cases.
The day before it was almost 15,200, which was also a record.
In total, more than 465,700 people have been proven to have been infected with the corona virus in the Mediterranean country.
The number of deaths rose 136 to 36,968 on Thursday.
Italy has around 60 million inhabitants.
As with the first wave of the pandemic, northern Italian Lombardy with Milan as the capital is particularly hard hit.
4125 of the new cases were recorded there.
New corona rules in Austria from Sunday
00:05
: In Austria, new measures in the fight against the corona virus will come into force on Sunday.
As the Austrian Ministry of Health announced in the evening, from then on only six people will be allowed to meet inside for private events such as dance and yoga courses or birthday parties.
For celebrations in your own home, there is an urgent appeal to also adhere to this rule.
The upper limit is twelve people outdoors.
The government had originally announced that the stricter measures will apply from Friday.
In future, residents in retirement homes will be required to wear a mask in the generally accessible areas, as will pedestrian passages.
Hobby choirs and bands at amateur level are only allowed to come together in rooms with a maximum of six people.
The Austrian Ministry of Health reported 2435 new infections with the coronavirus within 24 hours on Thursday - a record for the Alpine republic with its around nine million inhabitants since the beginning of the pandemic.
The number of newly reported cases within seven days rose to 134.5 per 100,000 inhabitants across Austria.
Court overturns maximum limit for private celebrations in
Frankfurt
00.02 a.m
.: In Frankfurt, the administrative court has overturned the maximum limit set by the city for private celebrations in closed rooms.
To contain the spread of the pandemic, such celebrations have so far been limited to ten people.
The judges suspended the order due to formal errors with an urgent decision.
The city ruled by converting the ten-party limit into an "urgent recommendation."
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