In the Bundestag session weeks, many people come together in a confined space: MPs, employees, visitors. Ideal conditions for the spread of the corona virus. Despite precautions, it now arrives in the Reichstag building.
Berlin (dpa) - The Bundestag has its first corona case. According to the FDP group, the virus was found in one of its MPs. In consultation with the parliamentary doctor and the Berlin-Mitte district office, all necessary measures were taken immediately, it said.
The affected MP Hagen Reinhold from Rostock told the editorial network in Germany that the first symptoms appeared after a skiing holiday in Austria. "After my return I coughed lightly and had the Bundestag doctor examine me on Monday." He has now overcome the disease. He is fine.
The FDP faction announced that the MP's employees were already in preventive quarantine at home. A list of contact persons will be drawn up, who should also go into quarantine as a precaution. "In addition, the FDP parliamentary group is examining possible effects on parliamentary operations with the Bundestag administration."
In the SPD parliamentary group, several members of parliament and employees are in quarantine as a precaution because of contact with a person infected with the coronavirus. These include the health politician Karl Lauterbach, the SPD parliamentary group leader Eva Högl and the legal policy spokesman Johannes Fechner, as a parliamentary group spokesman said in Berlin on Wednesday.
The reason was a meeting of the parliamentary group on law on March 2, in which a person from the Federal Ministry of Justice who had meanwhile tested positive for the coronavirus had participated. The participants in the meeting, Members and staff, were informed. The infected person's direct neighbors are at home, as are the other people who have been in the room. Around 15 people are affected.
Lauterbach told the "Bild" newspaper: "I do not assume that I have infected myself, but I still go into quarantine until Sunday." It became normal for people to become infected. "The Bundestag is a high-risk area because many people come together and have previously had contact with many people," said Lauterbach, who is a medical doctor himself.
Infections by members of parliament can severely affect parliamentary operations - right through to the cancellation of weeks of meetings. The 709 MPs not only come together closely in the plenary hall, but also, for example, in the meetings of the specialist committees. The FDP deputy Reinhold belongs to the building committee.
As a further precaution, Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) and the parliamentary directors of the political groups agreed on Wednesday not to vote by name in this week of the session. With these, voting cards are thrown into a kind of urn, which regularly leads to large crowds of people in these boxes. The risk of infection is too great, it was said to justify the waiver.
The Bundestag wants to maintain its regular operations for as long as possible. The political groups also agreed that there should be no distortion of the majority if, for example, several parliamentarians from one parliamentary group could no longer attend the plenary sessions. Then MEPs from the other groups might not vote.
In the past few days, Schäuble had already ordered that the dome and roof terrace of the Reichstag building be closed to visitors from now on. In addition, visitor groups will no longer be admitted to the Bundestag until the end of April. The MPs were asked to adhere to hygiene measures and to reduce business trips to the absolute minimum.
Biography of Hagen Reinhold