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Lothar Wieler in the federal press conference (archive picture): The number of new infections is said to go "steeply up" across Germany
Photo: Wolfgang Kumm / dpa
In an online discussion event with the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU), the head of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, warned of a "serious emergency" which Germany was heading. He called for swift action from politicians: "We really will have a very bad Christmas if we don't take countermeasures now," said Wieler. He was disappointed with the pace of Corona policy so far: "After 21 months, I simply can no longer bear the fact that what I say, among other things, like many other colleagues, may not be recognized."
For the next ten days, Wieler presented a "gloomy" forecast.
The number of new infections rose "steeply" in all five regions of Germany.
The scenario had been known since July 2021.
Many areas were opened too quickly against the recommendations of the RKI.
"We need everyone and everyone to vaccinate now"
Wieler called for contact restrictions.
In his opinion, hotspots such as clubs and bars should remain closed.
At the same time, Wieler advocated 2G rules.
"We really mustn't give those who don't get vaccinated the chance to bypass the vaccination, for example by getting tested."
According to Wieler, pharmacists should also be used to vaccinate.
"We are in an emergency, and in an emergency you have to be generous with certain things," said Wieler.
“We need everyone to vaccinate now.
Otherwise we won't get this crisis under control. "
The number of infections in Germany is currently increasing by almost 40 percent every week.
According to the RKI, the number of new infections reported on Wednesday was 52,826.
According to Lothar Wieler, however, there is a high number of unreported cases behind this.
In his lecture he estimated the number to be twice or three times as high.
In the past few weeks, 0.8 percent of the sick died.
That means that of the more than 50,000 people who become infected each day, 400 would die in the next few weeks.
At the federal press conference, he recently spoke cautiously of 200 deaths per day, but the number is actually much higher.
On Thursday, the federal and state governments will discuss how to proceed in the corona pandemic.
Several federal states had already tightened their protective measures beforehand.
Baden-Württemberg introduced the so-called corona warning level at the beginning of November.
The majority of the federal states introduced the 2G model for several areas.
ime / dpa
