“It's still pretty complicated in detail”: that's what Merkel is said to have said internally about the further Corona strategy and the negotiations.
On Wednesday she will meet with the federal states.
On March 3, the federal and state governments will discuss how to proceed with the corona pandemic.
Plans for the meeting are circulating in advance - here is the overview of the proposed resolution.
It is possible that loosening will soon be possible below an incidence of 100
(see update from March 2, 8:43 p.m.).
In addition, Chancellor Angela Merkel * is said to have spoken out in favor of responding more to the regional situation in counties when taking measures
(see update from March 2, 7:12 p.m.).
This news ticker is continuously updated.
Update from March 2, 8:43 p.m.: In the
future, easing should be possible with an incidence of less than 100.
Business Insider
wants to
have found out from government circles.
According to the report, the contact restrictions are to be relaxed from Monday.
To be more precise: Meetings of your own household with another household should be possible again.
However, limited to a maximum of five people.
In all federal states, flower shops, beverage markets and bookshops should be allowed to open uniformly.
Should the seven-day incidence drop below 35, further opening steps could follow.
The next easing step takes effect when the incidence has remained stable below this value for 14 days.
According to the report, the federal and state governments agreed on the easing limit of 100 on Tuesday.
If the incidence is stable below this, relaxation should in principle be possible.
For example, retail should be allowed to open with “click and meet” concepts.
Customers can shop per 40 square meters of sales area "after booking an appointment for a fixed period of time with documentation for contact tracking in the store".
Appointments can be made by email or phone.
Corona summit on Wednesday: opening from an incidence of 100?
Museums, galleries and zoos should also be able to open if the incidence is below 100 if an appointment is booked in advance and contact tracking options are available.
Individual sports for a maximum of two and sports in groups with up to ten children aged 14 or under should be possible outdoors.
If the incidence rises to over 100 on three consecutive days, the same rules apply from the second day that were in effect until March 7th.
In order to avoid lockdown tourism, the districts want to coordinate more closely.
According to the report, the draft resolution states: "Joint precautions must be taken with the neighboring areas with higher incidences in order to avoid cross-border use of the open offers as much as possible."
+
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) will again consult with the country leaders on Wednesday about the corona situation.
© Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Update from March 2, 7:12 p.m.:
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has announced an opening strategy that is more oriented towards regional developments after the month-long corona lockdown.
The strategy that is being developed for the future no longer only relies on nationwide incidences or R values, but also makes local differences, said Merkel on Tuesday in an online meeting of the Union parliamentary group, as the
German press agency
learned from participants.
Before the federal-state consultations on Wednesday, Merkel said that she herself also considered openings necessary.
After the very long lockdown, loosening would be "dearly desired", one now has to move forward step by step.
Merkel justified the move away from nationwide incidences - the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week - and from a nationwide reproduction value with the different development of the pandemic in Germany.
It is very difficult to explain that in the 50 or so counties that have an incidence of less than 35, the same applies as in those with one over 200. It also cannot be explained that all federal states are always treated in the same way.
One will "regionalize more in order to allow more freedom".
Corona summit on Wednesday: "Vaccinate, test, open" - Merkel describes new strategy
After this information, the Chancellor summarized the strategy with the words: “Vaccinate, test, open, be careful and always have an emergency mechanism that works when the chains of infection can no longer be traced and we grow exponentially again should. ”With this approach she went into the talks on Wednesday.
"In detail, it will certainly be quite complicated," Merkel was quoted as saying.
Since there will be no comprehensive availability of tests in the first few weeks, you have to see what the first opening steps are, in which you still use security measures and which you proceed gradually, Merkel said.
The Chancellor was quoted as saying: "I think nothing is worse than if we were to make a test offer, so to speak, and people storm the test centers and then there wasn't enough material." That is why the test strategy had to be "very carefully phased in".
Corona summit: Merkel gives an assessment of the test strategy schedule
Update from March 2, 5:25 p.m.:
Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced a broad and month-long test strategy that is intended to secure the planned easing after the corona lockdown.
According to the Federal Government, this will be needed for the months of April, May and June, said Merkel on Tuesday in an online meeting of the Union parliamentary group, as the
German press agency
learned from participants.
The vaccination will later have such dominant effects that a test strategy on such a scale is no longer necessary.
Corona self-tests are not yet available on a large scale in addition to the rapid antigen tests, said Merkel.
In addition to the three already approved self-tests, there are 96 applications for approval - it is expected that around 40 producers could make valid offers.
Now you have to find out to what extent these tests are available at short notice.
Corona summit on Wednesday: Federal government advises business on test offers
The month of March is certainly needed to develop a comprehensive security strategy for openings, Merkel emphasized.
Schools and daycare centers should have priority here.
If all students went to school again and all daycare children went to daycare, that would be at least 15 million people.
If you test this twice a week and it costs between three and five euros, that would cost several 100 million euros a month.
Merkel was quoted as saying that the economy should also offer employees a test.
In the evening, the federal government will consult with the business community about what it can do and offer.
This is a contribution to the general public, but it is also a contribution to safety in companies.
During their consultations with the Prime Minister this Wednesday, it should also be discussed when there could be comprehensive test offers for every citizen.
Corona summit on Wednesday: But no easing in sight?
Update from March 2, 4:25 p.m.:
The loosening of the lockdown may be in jeopardy.
Business Insider
reports
.
From government circles it is said that less than 24 hours before the Corona summit there are still numerous ambiguities about the test strategy that is to be decided at the summit.
Actually, all Germans should be able to get tested once or twice a week for free by the beginning of April at the latest.
The focus is primarily on employees in schools and daycare centers as well as employees who are still working on site in the office.
However, it is still unclear whether there is a foreseeable and permanent availability of sufficient quick and self-tests in Germany.
Many countries are now also criticizing the fact that the test centers required for such rapid tests cannot be set up so quickly.
In addition, this is an expensive undertaking: The Ministry of Health expects monthly costs of up to 810 million euros.
Corona summit: Education ministers announce further school openings
Update from March 2, 3:12 p.m.:
The education ministers of the federal states have announced further school openings.
The alternating or face-to-face lessons begun at primary schools should be expanded and intensified for other years, they decided in the Standing Conference (KMK) after a decision announced on Tuesday.
This should apply "if the infection situation still allows it".
Dates are not mentioned in the decision.
So far, the federal states have been able to proceed differently when schools are opened.
According to the KMK, there should be regional deviations.
A preliminary draft resolution for the deliberations between the Prime Minister and the Federal Chancellor this Wednesday also provides “that the staff in schools and childcare as well as all pupils are offered (...) free rapid tests * including a certificate of the test result per attendance week receive".
At least one or two such tests should be offered.
During these tests, trained personnel take swabs deep in the nose and throat.
Corona summit: Bundestag wants to use further criteria in addition to the incidence value for assessment
Update from March 2, 2:55 p.m.:
Not the chancellor and state chiefs, the Bundestag is also working on further fine-tuning in the corona lockdown.
In addition to the incidence value, other criteria should become more important around the corona protective measures.
The legal and health politicians of the CDU / CSU and SPD parliamentary groups agreed on Tuesday to amend the Infection Protection Act, as both sides confirmed.
In the future, the number of people vaccinated against Covid-19 and the R value should also be taken into account.
“In addition, it is expressly stated in the explanatory memorandum that these two criteria are not exhaustive and that the utilization of the health care system must also be taken into account,” said the legal policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Johannes Fechner, of the dpa.
"We cannot base the sometimes considerable encroachments on fundamental rights solely on the incidence values," he warned, with a view to, among other things, the progress made in vaccination among the particularly vulnerable elderly population.
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Lindner has meanwhile sharply criticized the deliberations of the federal and state governments for the further corona policy (see first report).
The connection between the broad use of rapid tests and the further opening steps is "paradoxical," he said on Tuesday in Berlin.
If the number of tests is expanded, there will be “by the nature of things more people who have tested positive”.
In this procedure, a “permanently extended lockdown is applied”.
Corona easing in Germany?
“First nothing!” - Kretschmann brakes before the summit
Update from March 2, 2:25 p.m.:
Chancellor Angela Merkel's draft resolution for the Corona summit is already public (see initial report) - but in the federal states there is already skepticism about further openings.
Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), for example, sees no quick opening steps - despite the ongoing turmoil in the election campaign in Stuttgart.
When asked what other than hardware stores could be opened quickly, the Green politician said on Tuesday in Stuttgart: “First of all, nothing.” The number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days is still the decisive factor in the question of how strong one can loosen - and the 7-day incidence is increasing again.
It is true that openings can soon be tackled with mass rapid and self-tests, but that cannot be done overnight.
"That is a great organizational effort." The test infrastructure must already be there, "so that you can combine the test strategy with the opening strategy," said the Green politician.
According to his own statements, NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet only sees opportunities for “cautious solutions”.
As building blocks for a corresponding concept, Laschet named intensified tests, intensified vaccinations and the exhaustion of digital solutions for infection tracking in Moers on Tuesday.
With everything, the development of the number of infections must be kept in view, emphasized Laschet on the sidelines of a visit to a manufacturer of rapid antigen tests.
An "emergency brake" must be part of a relaxation concept, the detailed design of which is currently still the subject of negotiations among the countries.
Merkel probably wants lockdown by the Easter holidays and is abandoning one point - two dates are important
First report
: Berlin - finally meeting more people again.
If it is true what several media are quoting from a draft resolution for the Corona summit on March 3, the contact restrictions should be relaxed - starting next Monday.
Currently, members of a household are only allowed to meet with one other person.
From March 8, up to five people from two households could come together (not including those under 14), as
reported by
Merkur.de
*,
among others.
That could make the time up to the Easter holidays (start in most federal states: March 29th) a little easier for many.
Because that is the second point: According to an initial draft resolution, Chancellor Angela Merkel * (CDU *) wants to adhere to the lockdown * until then.
Corona summit with Merkel: is the 7-day incidence target of 35 tipping over?
However: easing could be less attached to the number 35.
"The federal and state governments now want to test how the significant expansion of tests and a test program in conjunction with a better traceability of contacts in the event of an infection make it possible to open steps even with higher 7-day incidences with over 35 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants “, It says in the paper.
It follows from this: Angela Merkel no longer adheres quite so strictly to the 35 incidence and also holds out the prospect of easing steps if this value is not reached.
According to the paper, on which Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Berlin's Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) worked alongside Merkel, a 7-day incidence * of 35 does play a role - for retail.
If this target is reached in a region, it should be allowed to open with a limit of one customer per 20 square meters, as well as museums, galleries, zoological and botanical gardens and memorials.
Sports with up to ten people in the outdoor area should also be possible, writes the portal.
More freedom again with the corona self-test?
Federal and state superior
Bookstores, flower shops and garden centers should therefore be allowed to open uniformly in all federal states - there is currently a patchwork quilt here.
Hygiene concepts are a prerequisite.
According to the report, the previously closed body-friendly service companies as well as driving and flight schools should be allowed to reopen, with a daily negative rapid test being a prerequisite.
Self-tests should also be accepted.
Data for these opening steps were not given in the report.
Instead, it was said that the federal and state governments want to discuss how to proceed according to the draft on March 24th.
Merkel, Spahn and Laschet allegedly reject Söder's AstraZeneca proposal
That leaves the subject of vaccinations.
The vaccine from AstraZeneca currently has an image problem.
"Before he stays lying down, vaccinate whoever wants", had suggested Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder * (CSU *).
Merkel and Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) do not want to know anything about this, as the
picture
wants to
know
.
Instead, you should wait until the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) has released the drug for people over 65.
Even NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) did not think anything of the proposal.
(frs)
* Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
List of rubric lists: © Kay Nietfeld / dpa