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Corona test in Saarland
Photo: Oliver Dietze / dpa
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Border dispute with Brussels: Federal government rejects criticism
4.30 a.m.:
In the dispute over the German border controls in the corona crisis, the federal government firmly rejects the criticism of the EU Commission.
"In the interests of health protection" one must stick to the measures taken, wrote the German EU ambassador Michael Clauss to the Brussels authority.
They are proportionate because they are limited to the minimum and provide for exceptions, according to the letter from Monday, which the dpa has received.
Last week, the EU Commission asked Germany to relax in a letter of complaint because several requirements were disproportionate or unfounded.
Five other states were also written to about their border measures.
Germany declared the Czech Republic, Slovakia and large parts of Tyrol to be virus variant areas in mid-February.
From there, only Germans and foreigners with a residence and residence permit in Germany are allowed to enter.
But there are exceptions.
The basis of the concerns from Brussels is that the EU states had previously agreed on recommendations for traveling within the EU.
Countries want to reduce AstraZeneca vaccination backlog
3.40 a.m.:
In the federal states, after the hesitant start, the hope of a quick dismantling of the AstraZeneca vaccination backlog is growing.
Several countries are expecting a significant increase in vaccinations with the British-Swedish vaccine, as a query by the dpa showed.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, around 750,000 kindergarten teachers, day-care workers, primary school teachers and patrol officers are to receive a vaccination offer from Monday.
"We just want to vaccinate as much as we can," said NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU).
Hesse and Baden-Württemberg will soon also want to vaccinate significantly more people with AstraZeneca.
A total of almost 3.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine should be delivered to the federal states by Thursday, according to information from the Federal Ministry of Health.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), however, only 514,000 doses had been administered up to and including Monday.
If the vaccination rate is maintained, there could be over two million doses in stockpiling by the end of the week.
At the start of the week, Brandenburg reported an occupancy rate of around 90 percent in appointments; in Thuringia, vaccination appointments for staff at daycare centers and primary and special schools were assigned within a few hours.
Baden-Württemberg is also seeing a stronger demand for appointments, there are few reservations among teachers or educators, it says from there.
Meanwhile, more than a million people in the country are also eligible for vaccination.
The federal states had previously increased capacities in the vaccination centers.
The Standing Vaccination Commission recommends the preparation from AstraZeneca - unlike the EU Medicines Agency EMA - so far only for people between 18 and 64 years of age, because from their point of view there was initially too little data on the effect in the elderly.
However, it has already announced that this recommendation will be updated very soon.
Brazil reports a record number of 1,641 corona deaths within one day
2.30 a.m.:
In Brazil, with more than 1,600 corona deaths in just one day, a sad record has been recorded.
The health authorities of the South American country reported 1,641 deaths from Covid-19 within 24 hours on Tuesday.
The number of corona deaths reported in Brazil since the beginning of the pandemic rose to 257,361.
There are more corona deaths only in the USA.
The Ministry of Health in Brasília also reported more than 59,900 new corona infections on Tuesday.
Since the pandemic began, 10.6 million cases of infection have been detected in the country.
However, experts assume a very high number of unreported cases.
According to experts, the reason for the recent increase in infections is, among other things, the celebrations for the Brazilian Carnival.
Assembly bans apply in individual Brazilian states and major cities.
However, there are no national exit restrictions as in other countries.
Brazil’s right-wing leader Jair Bolsonaro has downplayed the danger posed by the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic and recently questioned the benefits of vaccinations.
Medical president warns of false security with corona self-tests
02.05 a.m.:
Medical President Klaus Reinhardt has warned that corona self-tests could lull people into a false sense of security.
"It should be clear to everyone that the test results are only a snapshot," said the President of the German Medical Association of the dpa before the switching conference on the Corona situation this Wednesday in Berlin.
In the round, the federal and state governments probably want to link opening steps to the massive use of quick and self-tests.
Reinhardt asked for clear and easily understandable information for a responsible handling of self-tests.
Even with a negative test result, distance, mask protection and hygiene rules would have to be observed.
In the event of a positive result, a check-up using a PCR test must be initiated as soon as possible and strict quarantine must be adhered to.
Reinhardt demanded an unbureaucratic reporting procedure for the quick tests carried out by trained personnel.
A central recording of results provides information about the actual infection process.
Opening steps should not only be based on the general infection numbers.
The number of available intensive care beds, the development of the death rate and the development of infections in the different age groups must be taken into account.
The data would have to be broken down by region.
"This is the only way to get a meaningful overall picture of the pandemic situation and to develop uniform criteria for precisely fitting opening levels in the regions."
More speed is needed with vaccinations.
It is necessary to "finally begin with nationwide and nationwide vaccinations in the doctor's offices."
Probably from the second quarter there will be larger vaccine capacities.
"Involving the practices in the vaccination campaign prevents delays or even traffic jams in the vaccinations."
China plans to vaccinate 40 percent of the population by June
1:55 a.m.:
China's government
says it
wants 40 percent of its own population to be vaccinated by June.
By the end of the year, 80 percent of the more than 1.3 billion Chinese are said to have been vaccinated, as the state media reported on Wednesday with reference to the requirements of local health authorities.
Some even aimed at up to 50 or 90 percent.
So far, however, only 3.5 percent of people in the People's Republic have been vaccinated.
Experts pointed out that the current vaccination rate is also so low because the virus is largely under control in the most populous country.
For a few weeks now, the authorities have mostly only been reporting imported infections, and those affected are immediately isolated on arrival due to the strict quarantine requirements.
The world's first cases of the corona virus were discovered in December 2019 in the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan.
After a reaction that was initially criticized as inadequate, China's authorities took strict measures at the end of January 2020, including curfews for many millions of people, mass tests, contact tracing and forced quarantine.
Since then, extensive entry restrictions have also applied.
So only a few visas are issued.
International air traffic is severely restricted.
Entrants must show several tests and, depending on the place of arrival, spend two to three weeks in a quarantine facility.
According to vague estimates, the number of Germans in China has halved from around 30,000 before the pandemic.
German business representatives, experts and other seconded workers have great problems getting an entry permit at all.
Only a few isolated outbreaks have been reported in China since the summer, and strict measures were always taken immediately.
Life and economic activity have largely returned to normal.
In many places, however, people continue to wear mouth and nose protection, have a fever measured and have to register with a Corona app in shops or restaurants.
Unicef: 168 million children have not attended school for almost a year
1:40 a.m.:
For almost a year, according to Unicef, more than 168 million children worldwide have been excluded from school because of measures against the corona pandemic.
The United Nations Children's Fund reported that 214 million children missed more than three quarters of their classes.
Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore spoke of a "catastrophic education crisis" because of the global lockdown.
According to the report, 14 countries were largely in lockdown from March 2020 to February 2021.
Two thirds of these countries belong to Latin America and the Caribbean and together have almost 98 million school children.
In schools, children would exchange ideas with their peers, receive support, access to health services and vaccinations, as well as a meal.
The most vulnerable and the children without access to distance education are at an increased risk of never going back to school and being forced into child marriages or child labor, according to Unicef.
"The most disadvantaged children pay the highest price," Fore said.
"We must leave no stone unturned to keep the schools open or to give priority to their rapid reopening."
Unicef wants to draw attention to the educational crisis with the installation "Pandemic Classroom": The model classroom shows 168 empty desks - one desk for one million children, whose schools have been almost completely closed for a year.
Fire letter to Merkel: Companies are calling for a summit for SMEs
1:25 a.m.:
Before the federal-state meeting,
small and medium-sized enterprises are pressing
a fire letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel on a summit about an exit from lockdown.
"For many medium-sized companies nothing less than their own existence is at stake," says the letter from which the newspapers of the Funke media group report in advance.
The signatories include the Federal Association of Medium-Sized Enterprises (BVMW), as well as owners and CEOs of 20 large medium-sized companies.
They are pressing for a catalog of measures to reduce bureaucracy in the Corona aid programs, an exit plan and a post-Corona agenda.
"Otherwise we are threatened with selling out German SMEs through Chinese direct investments," said the entrepreneurs.
Haseloff: "I would be vaccinated with Sputnik V at any time"
1:15 a.m.:
Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff is promoting the Russian vaccine Sputnik V to remedy the vaccine shortage in Germany.
"We should do everything we can to accelerate vaccination in Germany," the incumbent Federal Council President told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
East Germany has decades of experience with Russian vaccines, said Haseloff.
Even as a child, he was successfully vaccinated against polio with a Russian drug, while no vaccine was available in the West.
He would therefore be vaccinated with Sputnik V at any time.
He also does not rule out mandatory vaccination in principle.
It could be "a topic for the Ethics Council," the CDU politician told the newspapers.
“We had to be vaccinated in the GDR.
I survived it."
Australia extends corona-related border closure by at least three months
0.55 a.m.:
Australia has announced an extension of the corona-related border closure for at least three months.
The strict border controls would be extended until at least June 17, said Health Secretary Greg Hunt.
Australia has been largely isolated from the outside world for around a year.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the government imposed international travel restrictions that only allow non-Australians to enter the country in exceptional cases.
Health experts advised the government to extend the border closure, Hunt said.
In their view, "the Covid-19 situation abroad represents an unacceptable risk to public health in Australia," said the minister.
He also referred to the spread of contagious virus variants.
Australia got the spread of the coronavirus under control early on.
In the country with its 25 million inhabitants, only just under 29,000 cases of infection with the Covid-19 pathogen have been registered since the beginning of the pandemic.
Anyone who is allowed to enter Australia must first go to a special quarantine hotel for two weeks.
Placement in such a facility costs several thousand dollars.
Great Britain extends corona aid
12:35 a.m.:
Great Britain wants to extend the job protection program because of the ongoing pandemic.
The aid amounting to 80 percent of the salary should run for another five months until the end of September, according to excerpts published in advance from his budget speech on Wednesday.
The self-employed should also receive more support.
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