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FDP boss Christian Lindner: "The sole orientation on the numbers 35 or 50 does not do justice to the pandemic."
Photo: Matthias Balk / dpa
In many places in Germany the pictures were alike on the weekend.
After the days with ice and cold, the temperatures were often almost spring-like.
Whether in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Leipzig or Dresden, especially in big cities and metropolitan areas, people were pushed into the parks or the water.
Often they were crowded together.
At least in such places, little was seen of a persistent pandemic situation with distance rules.
In addition to these images, there is the fact that the incidence values - i.e. the number of new corona infections within a seven-day week measured per 100,000 inhabitants - are currently hardly falling in some regions of Germany and are even rising again in some places.
The question arises whether the agreement recently passed by the federal and state governments to allow easing - initially for the retail trade, museums and businesses with body-friendly services - can only be maintained if the incidence value has remained below 35.
The number 35 is controversial; previously, falling below the incidence of 50 was repeatedly mentioned as a goal in the discussion - but before the more aggressive corona mutants spread faster on mainland Europe.
This debate about the extent to which it is possible to reach the incidence value below 35 could possibly pick up speed again.
It has already begun in the grand coalition.
The legal policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Johannes Fechner, recently told SPIEGEL that almost all EU states have additional criteria.
“We need them too.
It also needs to be much clearer what can be restricted and when. "
The SPD legal politicians therefore want to change the next version of the Infection Protection Act so that the number of free intensive care beds is also taken into account, as well as the ability of the health authorities to prove infection chains.
However, it remains to be seen whether they will also receive the approval of the SPD health politicians and the Union parties in the grand coalition.
On the opposition side, the FDP has been doubting for days whether the incidence regulation recently sought by the Chancellery and the federal states can still be kept in place.
The FDP party and parliamentary group leader Christian Lindner told SPIEGEL on Sunday: "The mere orientation on the numbers 35 or 50 does not do justice to the pandemic." The more tests are available and the more people at high risk of a serious illness are vaccinated the less these numbers said anything on their own.
"The grid of incidences of 35 and 50 has long been too coarse for that"
FDP boss Christian Lindner on the latest decision by the Chancellery and the federal states to contain the pandemic
»In order to make measures proportionate, other measured variables must also be considered.
For example, it is important to know which age groups are infected, how busy the intensive care units are and how the chains of infection can actually be tracked, ”said the FDP politician, whose party recently introduced a step-by-step plan in the Bundestag for a relaxation - among others Consideration of the corresponding incidence values and other criteria.
"The grid of incidences of 35 and 50 has long been too rough for that," Lindner is convinced.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Ministers recently agreed to allow the latest measures to apply until March 7th.
In view of the increasing number of infections in parts of southern Germany, border controls had already been introduced by the Federal Ministry of the Interior at the borders with the Czech Republic and the Austrian Tyrol.
On Monday, according to SPIEGEL in Berlin coalition circles, a higher warning level for the French Moselle department, which borders the Saarland, should possibly be discussed in the so-called small corona cabinet.
So far, France has been considered a "risk area", now the region could be classified as a "high incidence area" or even as a "virus variant area", as the newspapers of the Funke media group previously reported.
The "Small Corona Cabinet" has met every Monday since the beginning of the pandemic under the chairmanship of the Chancellor. Ministers for Defense, Finance, Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Health and the head of the Federal Chancellery take part in it.
Accordingly, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) also wants to extend the controls at the borders to the Czech Republic and Tyrol until March 3.
They expire on Wednesday night.
On March 3, the next federal-state switch on the situation of the pandemic will also take place.
Lauterbach is already seeing the third wave
At the weekend, there were also increasing signs that primary school teachers and day-care center employees could slip forward in the vaccination sequence.
Several state representatives, health minister Jens Spahn and education minister Anja Karliczek (both CDU) are in favor of this. On this Monday afternoon, the health ministers of the states could make a corresponding fundamental decision at a switching conference, announced Baden-Württemberg's head of department Manne Lucha (Greens).
The step of changing the Corona Vaccination Ordinance by the Federal Ministry of Health would have to be implemented in practice.
The number of new infections in Germany increased both on Saturday and Sunday compared to the previous weekend.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 7,676 new cases within one day on Sunday, 1,562 more than last Sunday.
The so-called seven-day incidence also increased to 60.2 nationwide compared to 57.8 the previous day.
145 deaths were reported within 24 hours.
Last Sunday there were 218. Experts attribute the increase primarily to the spread of significantly more contagious virus variants.
The SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach is now assuming a third wave is already taking place.
“Unfortunately, that's the situation.
The third wave starts now, ”he tweeted over the weekend.
The only question is "how fast and how strong".
Meeting it also means changing the vaccination strategy.
"First vaccination before, vaccinate Astra faster for everyone under 65 years for all risk groups," was his suggestion.
With material from dpa
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