Health Minister Holetschek calls for the corona measures to be extended - "The pandemic is not over"

Health Minister Holetschek advises Prime Minister and Chancellor Merkel not to give up the pandemic measures at the conference in Berlin next week.

Munich - In a few days, a Prime Minister's Conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel * (CDU) will take place in Berlin for the first time in several months.

The talks with the heads of state will include the extension of the corona measures or the legal basis for them - beyond September 11th.

Bavaria's Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) insists that there should be an extension.

(By the way: Our Bavaria newsletter informs you about all developments and results from the Free State about the upcoming federal election - and of course about all other important stories from Bavaria.)

Health Minister Holetschek still wants a legal basis for corona measures

Holetschek, who is also chairman of the conference of health ministers, warned on Friday in Munich against hastily abandoning the regulations in the fight against Corona *. "The pandemic is not over," he said. "The pandemic will not end because we are legally stipulating an end to the pandemic, as the Free Voters would like to have us believe," emphasized Holetschek. 

His demand: The so-called “epidemic situation of national importance” must be extended beyond September 11th.

“In the future too, especially in the autumn and winter months, we will need suitable measures to contain the infection rate.

We still need a legal basis for this, ”said Holetschek.

The number of infections is now higher than at the same time a year ago.

For example, 694 new corona cases were reported to the RKI across Germany on August 1, 2020.

On August 1st of this year it was 1291.

Half of the people in Bavaria are already vaccinated.

But Holetschek warns against resting on it.

Holetschek also wants a third vaccination in autumn (video)

Holetschek warns of the danger of a fourth wave

The containment measures should not be sacrificed to the understandable desire for normalcy.

"If we abandon our course of caution and caution too early now, we run the risk of the fourth wave and even more rapidly increasing numbers of infections catching up with us like a boomerang," said Holetschek.

The development in other countries clearly shows this danger.

Bavaria reported an incidence of 13.8 to the RKI * on Friday, which is still below the national average of 20.4.

The district of Berchtesgadener Land still has the highest value in the Free State with 41.5, followed by the city of Aschaffenburg (39.4) and the city of Kaufbeuren (29.3).

There have been no new corona cases in the city of Schweinfurt in the past seven days.