Robert Habeck calls for the reintroduction of free corona rapid tests.
It was a mistake to suspend them, said the chairman of the Greens.
Berlin - For almost a month, corona rapid tests have only been free in exceptional cases, for example for pregnant women or students.
The Greens chairman Robert Habeck now wants to reverse this in view of the current high number of corona infections.
In the show "Frühstart" on RTL / ntv he said: "It was already a mistake at that time to expose them, it was a measure to motivate the non-vaccinated negatively."
Habeck was not surprised by the current Corona record numbers: "The vaccination rate is below 70 percent, the Delta variant is more contagious than the previous variants - and the rest is mathematics." He therefore expects more restrictions for citizens who have not yet vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Conversely, vaccinated people who are less at risk would get “more freedom”.
Habeck calls for free corona rapid tests: Spahn emphasizes overloading the health system
The acting Federal
Minister of Health,
Jens Spahn, told
Bayerischer Rundfunk
: “Now the question is how do we avoid overloading the health system.
It's not about annoying or bullying the unvaccinated, as I sometimes read, but about protecting the health system, the nursing staff [...] so that patients can be treated well. "
The number of daily new infections with the corona virus had previously risen to a record level in Germany.
The health authorities reported a total of 33,949 new infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) within one day - more than ever before.
A week ago, the value was 28,037 infections.
The previous record was 33,777 cases on December 18, 2020.
Free corona rapid tests: Habeck speaks out against further Prime Minister conferences
Habeck, who is traded as a minister in a possible traffic light coalition with the SPD and FDP, also spoke out against a further meeting of the prime ministers of the federal states to reassess the situation.
"The Prime Minister's
Conference
is a coordination body, not a decision-making body, and that has not really worked out well in the past."
(Dpa / fmü)