Now a man has also tested positive for the new type of corona virus in Hamburg. He works at the university hospital in pediatric and adolescent medicine. This also has consequences for the young patients and their parents.
Hamburg (dpa) - The novel corona virus is now spreading more and more in Germany: late Thursday evening, the first cases were reported in northern Germany and in Hesse. Overall, the number of confirmed infections increased more than three times within a day to over 30.
In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, an estimated 1,000 people are said to be in quarantine. The virologist Christian Drosten assumes that the number of cases will increase sharply in Germany. The chair of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, does not expect a vaccine before 2021 - but warns of panic. This Friday, the crisis team of the federal government is advising about further measures against the new virus Sars-CoV-2.
14 new cases were added on Thursday in North Rhine-Westphalia alone, and four further infections were reported in Baden-Württemberg and one new case in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and Bavaria. In addition, an employee of child and adolescent medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) became infected. This was announced by the clinic and the health authority. All children and parents who had close contact with the employee are now in quarantine for 14 days. Other employees also go into domestic isolation. It was the first detected infection with Sars-CoV-2 in Hamburg.
In addition, 16 other Sars CoV-2 infections had already been reported several weeks ago - these people are now all considered virus-free. The virologist Christian Drosten said on Thursday evening on the ZDF program "Maybrit Illner": "We will see in the next few days that new cases and small groups of cases will spring up like mushrooms." Germany will be one of the countries with the highest number of cases in Europe "because our population is very keen to travel".
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, told the "Passauer Neue Presse" that the technique of vaccine extraction and approval would take at least a year. In a few years you will be living with another flu-like illness called Covid-19 that you can vaccinate against. "Above all, we have to stop panicking. The virus can lead to serious illnesses in some people. In over 80 percent, however, it only leads to cold-like symptoms. But this is not the end of the world."
According to the Ministry of Health and the Interior, the German government's crisis team is to advise on how to deal with major events such as trade fairs on Friday. This is about the impact on the International Tourism Exchange (ITB), which is due to start in Berlin on March 4. Criteria could also be developed for other events, according to which local authorities can then decide on possible restrictions.
In China, the number of fatalities and infections has continued to increase. As the Beijing Health Commission said on Friday, there were 327 proven Covid-19 diseases nationwide, bringing the total number of officially confirmed cases to mainland China to almost 79,000. The death toll rose by 44 victims to 2,788. With 318 infections and 41 fatalities, most of the cases came again from the particularly severely affected province of Hubei, where the virus originally broke out in the metropolis of Wuhan.
In South Korea, the number of infections in the country exceeded 2000. Health authorities reported 256 new cases on Friday. So far, it has been proven that 2022 people were infected with the novel corona virus. 13 deaths have been linked to the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday that the new pathogen had "pandemic potential" and could "get out of control" without the right measures. Sars-CoV-2 can cause lung disease Covid-19. Most infected people have only mild cold symptoms with chills and sore throats or no symptoms at all. 15 out of 100 infected people fell seriously ill, said the head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). You get breathing problems or pneumonia. According to previous figures, one to two percent of people infected with Sars-CoV-2 die, which is higher than that of the flu.
The federal government is also looking for solutions to keep protective equipment available to medical personnel, for example, in the fight against the coronavirus. "We have to be prepared for a shortage in the area," said Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) on the ZDF program "Maybrit Illner". Therefore, the crisis team should also look at the stocks in Germany. The crisis team has already launched the first additional measures. Passengers who come with machines from South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy should also provide information on their accessibility after landing. This already applies to direct flights from China.
The President of the German Medical Association, Klaus Reinhardt, said in the ARD "Tagesthemen" with regard to the spread of the new type of corona virus that the health system in Germany is currently well equipped and set up. Germany has one of the highest density of hospitals and hospital beds in terms of population worldwide.
Even in the most affected European country, Italy, the number of infected continues to rise. Meanwhile, 650 people have tested positive, said civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli. Dozens have recovered, however. The death toll is 17. In the Netherlands, an infection was confirmed for the first time. In France, the number of infected people rose from 18 to 38.
Fear of the virus spread is also increasingly felt by the economy: the leading German index Dax lost more than 3 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial lost almost 1200 points and closed below the 26,000 point mark at the lowest level since August 2019. Oil prices also fell sharply.
Equity markets also fell in Asia: the Nikkei index for 225 leading stocks on Asia's leading stock exchange in Tokyo went down in early business on Friday. One hour after the start of trading, the stock market barometer recorded a sharp discount of 695.88 points, or 3.17 percent, at an intermediate level of 22 252.35 points. The markets in China also continued to decline. The Shanghai Composite Index started with a minus of 2.23 percent and stood at 2924.64 points.
