The warnings in the fourth corona wave are getting darker and darker, the worried appeals from doctors more and more urgent.
The new figures from the Robert Koch Institute also sound alarming.
Berlin - The total number of proven corona infections in Germany has exceeded the five million mark.
The health authorities in Germany reported 33,498 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) within one day, so that 5,021,469 infections have been recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, according to RKI figures from Sunday morning.
The nationwide seven-day incidence per 100,000 population rose to the new high of 289.0.
Politicians and doctors' representatives are convinced that Germany is facing extremely tough weeks in the corona pandemic.
"The situation in Germany is extremely dramatic," warned Greens boss Robert Habeck.
"The wave that we have in front of us will overshadow all previous waves," said Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU).
"I have never been so worried during the pandemic as I am now," said the chairwoman of the Marburger Bund doctors' association, Susanne Johna.
In the current fourth wave of pandemics, the number of infections has soared to a record level.
"This fourth wave will demand more victims, including more fatalities, than anything we have known before," Kretschmer is quoted in "Bild am Sonntag".
At the same time, he prepared people for the fact that the tense situation will continue for months.
“We know from last year that we have to hold out until Easter.
This wave will not be over before then. "
Germany still has the chance to prevent a lockdown during the Christmas season, emphasized Kretschmer.
"But we are running out of time." The Prime Minister called for a 2G rule throughout Germany, reduced contacts and the cancellation of as many larger events as possible, such as Christmas markets.
Greens boss Habeck demanded strict 2G rules in the newspapers of the Funke media group (Sunday). 2G means that only those who have been vaccinated and recovered have access to restaurants and events, for example. "Increasing security to 2G plus, i.e. testing vaccinated people, is the next logical step as soon as the test centers open again across the board," added Habeck. 3G measures at the workplace and increased use of the home office are also urgently required. 3G in the workplace also considers Verdi boss Frank Werneke to be “appropriate and necessary”, as he told the German press agency.
Habeck also advocated that train travelers must be vaccinated, recovered or tested (3G). The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach sees it that way. "In this Corona situation, it is irresponsible that people, unvaccinated and untested, sit close to other passengers for hours in long-distance traffic," said Lauterbach of "Bild am Sonntag".
Intensive care physicians are also alarmed. Christian Karagiannidis, head of the intensive care registry of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi), wrote on Twitter on Saturday evening: “The limited operability of the intensive care units and the shortage of staff have reached an all-time high. The employees are working hard to do what they can, but they are increasingly at the limit. ”In the RBB evening show, he warned:“ We are really running out of time at the moment. ”
Karagiannidis expects that the threshold of 3,000 Covid patients in intensive care units will be reached in the next two to three days.
On Saturday, the DIVI reported 2,941 Covid patients who need intensive medical treatment.
The number rose by around 1,000 within two weeks. Regional differences are more pronounced than in previous waves of infection.
"Above all Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony and Thuringia are causing me great worries," said the intensive care doctor.
Doctor's representative Johna said in the Funke newspapers that the number of corona patients in intensive care units will rise so much in the coming weeks that in some places a supra-regional, perhaps even Germany-wide transfer will be necessary.
Karagiannidis also pointed out that the number of nurses had decreased substantially during the pandemic.
Verdi board member Sylvia Bühler told "Bild am Sonntag": "We are threatened with a real exodus in care."
After much back and forth, the federal and state governments want to discuss the corona situation next Thursday.
The possible coalition parties SPD, Greens and FDP want to let the special status of the epidemic situation of national scope expire on November 25 and replace it with a more restricted catalog of measures in the Infection Protection Act.
Verdi boss Werneke called for the future traffic light coalition to rethink.
"The expiry of the pandemic is a mistake," said Werneke.
"At this point there should be a correction." With this, the union chairman, himself a member of the SPD, opposes the first concrete project of the coalition of the SPD candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
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Doctor's representative Johna complained about "a power vacuum between the old and future government, federal and state governments". The board of the Patient Protection Foundation, Eugen Brysch, warned that state political responsibility across party lines is now more necessary than ever. “Queues in front of the vaccination centers. Elderly people without booster vaccinations. Dispute in the Bundestag about future legislation. The Corona autumn shows the organizational and political chaos, "said Brysch of the German press agency. Any delay in the upcoming measures will increase suffering and death.
From Kretschmer's point of view, the Prime Minister's Conference comes “too late”.
At the same time, he described the corona policy of the traffic light parties as "extremely dangerous".
“While the traffic light politicians in Berlin are talking about the fact that there is no pandemic situation, the number of infections is exploding across the country.
This policy has to be borne out by the employees in the hospitals, ”criticized Kretschmer.
Habeck replied: "We want a legally secure connection solution in which the parliament as the democratic sovereign makes the essential decisions." Habeck pointed out that the vast majority of measures are already possible and warned: "Every day counts."
According to an Insa survey for “Bild am Sonntag”, 60 percent of people expect a new lockdown this year.
27 percent do not believe that it will come to that, 12 percent did not provide any information.
dpa