The population is expected to take action against the spread of the coronavirus. The last tightening is a far-reaching ban on contacts. Most find this useful. Health Minister Spahn swears in further efforts.
Berlin (dpa) - In the fight against the corona virus, Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) expects the burden on doctors and nurses to continue to rise. "It is still the calm before the storm," said Spahn on Thursday in Berlin.
"Nobody can say exactly what will come in the next few weeks." Therefore, it is still necessary to slow the spread of the coronavirus and to increase the capacities in the clinics with intensive care beds. At the same time, the government is already making initial plans for the period after public life has largely come to a standstill.
For the time being, however, almost two thirds of Germans expect further restrictions on personal freedom. In a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency, 64 percent expressed the expectation that the measures adopted to avoid interpersonal contacts would be tightened again. Only 20 percent do not believe it, 16 percent did not provide any information. According to the survey, the acceptance of the measures is huge.
"At the present time, it is not yet possible to make a definite statement as to whether the dynamic of infection has weakened," said the President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler. "Some cities and counties have managed to get larger outbreak events under control." These outbreaks occurred in part in connection with festivals or trips. "Why festivals are still celebrated is incomprehensible to me," said Wieler.
Spahn confirmed that Germany was able to start preparations in the medical field early due to a large number of tests. With 300,000 to 500,000 tests per week, the capacity is also very high in international comparison. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) campaigned for understanding that coronavirus tests are only carried out in people with symptoms of the disease. Although one had large capacities, they were not enough "to simply test 83 million," said KBV Federal Chairman Andreas Gassen.
"We want to test a lot, but we want to test more specifically," said Health Minister Spahn. According to Gassen, the test capacity is only more than 250,000 per week in the field of health insurance. That could probably be increased to 360,000. In addition, there is also a test from clinics.
Spahn admitted that the procurement of protective equipment was not easy. "Masks have been delivered daily over the past few days," he said.
Politicians are also concerned with concepts that "there will be a time after Corona" in which the virus will continue to be fought, but public life will gradually normalize, said Spahn. This should also be the subject of discussions after Easter between the Federal Government and the Prime Minister. Spahn made it clear that cell phone data should be used to clarify infection chains in the event of a crisis. The question of how to "protect particularly vulnerable groups" is also being discussed.
The spread of the virus is still very different in different regions of Germany. According to the Robert Koch Institute, the number of infected per 100,000 inhabitants was, for example, 69 in Hamburg, 61 in Bavaria and 15 cases in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. "We may be able to talk about a change after Easter if we are all consistent with each other by Easter," said Spahn.
In the Corona crisis, the call for an "exit strategy" had recently become louder. The president of the Federal Association of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Mario Ohoven, had called on the federal government to develop such a strategy promptly for companies to get off to a quick start after the Corona crisis. Union fraction vice Carsten Linnemann (CDU) had called for an end to the economic break after Easter.
88 percent of the respondents to the YouGov survey agree with the measures decided so far. One in three (32 percent) would like even tougher restrictions. Only eight percent of Germans consider the measures to be excessive.
The federal government and the federal states had agreed on a nine-point plan on Sunday, which should minimize interpersonal contacts in order to reduce the risk of infection with the corona virus. Public gatherings of more than two people are largely prohibited for an initial two weeks. How the agreement is implemented in practice is a matter for the individual federal states.
83 percent say they fully adhere to the agreed rules, 12 percent partly. Only two percent state that they do not follow the new rules at all. The older the respondents are, the more likely they are to stick to the contact block.
The federal government's Corona Crisis Cabinet did not agree on Thursday to a nationwide obligation to quarantine at home after entering a country outside the EU. As the German press agency learned from government circles, a corresponding proposal from the Ministry of the Interior met with little response and was therefore not placed on the agenda.
YouGov Germany
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