The Prime Minister and Chancellor Angela Merkel agree on new corona rules for Germany at the Bund-Länder-Round.
This includes compulsory vaccination for nursing professions.
Read all the news about the Corona summit here in the ticker.
Corona summit from the federal and state governments: The
federal government and prime ministers discussed measures to combat the coronavirus * today.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the country chiefs announced the new corona rules for Germany
(update from November 18, 6:55 p.m.)
.
The federal and state governments agreed, among other things, on nationwide access restrictions for unvaccinated people
(update from November 18, 5.45 p.m.)
.
This
news ticker for the Corona summit between the federal and state governments
is continuously updated.
Update from November 18, 6:55 p.m.:
That was it with the press round of the Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), her likely successor Olaf Scholz (SPD), NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and the Berlin state chief Michael Müller (SPD) ).
We summarize the most important decisions of the Bund-Länder-Round on the Corona rules at a glance * in a short and simplified way:
In Germany there is a corona vaccination requirement for nursing professions.
Hospitalization threshold values of 3 to 6 to 9 will serve as a benchmark in future.
The threshold value specifies the number of people who have to go to hospital in seven days for every 100,000 inhabitants because of a coronavirus infection.
If there are more than three, the first measures take effect there.
From threshold value 3, the 2G rule applies.
Only those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered have access
to leisure, cultural and sporting events, gastronomy as well as body-friendly services and accommodation.
Grocery stores are excluded.
From threshold value 6, the 2Gplus rule applies
, for example in gastronomy or at other events.
Means: Even vaccinated and convalescent people have to show a negative test, for example at a Christmas market.
From threshold value 9, the federal states have the option to impose contact restrictions.
The 3G rule applies in the workplace.
Unvaccinated people have to show a new negative corona test every day.
The 3G rule applies to local public transport and domestic flights.
Passengers must have their Corona proof ready, unvaccinated people must carry a negative test with them, for example in the subway or on the bus.
But: There will be no more nationwide bans and lockdowns in the pandemic.
Gastronomy, leisure facilities, cinemas and fitness studios should no longer be closed, but if necessary the 2G + rule should be applied to protect against corona.
Closures of schools, daycare centers and universities as well as other universities are expressly not planned
and should be avoided at all costs.
Corona summit in the news ticker: Olaf Scholz (SPD) speaks of 30 million booster vaccinations
Update from November 18, 6.48 p.m.:
Olaf Scholz (SPD), who is likely to be the future Chancellor of the Federal Republic, also speaks out after the Prime Minister's
Conference
.
Measures are now needed “so that we can get through this winter safely,” says the Lower Saxony: “This includes first and foremost that those who have not yet been vaccinated are vaccinated now.” The point is that we “convince many of them to get a booster shot.
Millions are at stake, ”explains the acting Federal Minister of Finance.
Almost 30 million booster vaccinations would have to be given by the end of the year.
“The Minister President's Conference has agreed to organize that,” says the SPD candidate for Chancellor
Corona summit in the news ticker: Michael Müller (SPD) criticizes "egoism and indifference"
Update from November 18, 6.40 p.m.:
Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) is the turn.
The country chief from the capital chooses drastic words.
He criticizes “too much selfishness and too much indifference.
That some still think that in this solidarity community it doesn't matter, ”he says in the direction of the unvaccinated.
“It cannot go on forever with a minority dominating a majority and endangering their health.
That's why we decided on 2G today, "he explains, and says:" Those who do not want to be vaccinated have to live with the fact that they have to accept restrictions. "
The federal states would again significantly expand the vaccination offers with vaccination centers and mobile teams for booster vaccinations.
He demands “that everyone should help again now.
Get vaccinated, try to get booster vaccinations ”.
Corona summit in the news ticker: Hendrik Wüst (CDU) - Compulsory vaccination for care professions in Germany is coming
Update from November 18, 6:33 p.m.:
Hendrik Wüst (CDU), NRW state chief and chairman of the Prime Minister's
Conference
, speaks.
According to the CDU politician, the Bund-Länder-Round decided that all nursing professions in Germany should be vaccinated.
Conversely, there should be another caregiver bonus for the “great performance” in the pandemic.
It would now be a matter of restarting the vaccination.
To this end, the federal states would provide all possible capacities for the targeted booster vaccinations.
The federal government will again pay for the booster vaccinations.
He asks all “unvaccinated citizens to show solidarity and get vaccinated quickly, this is the only way we can cope with the pandemic”.
Corona summit in the news ticker: Angela Merkel - threshold values for hospitalization as a rule
Update from November 18, 6:28 p.m.:
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) continues to talk about the results of the federal-state round.
She reports a defined threshold value 9 for hospitalization, from which regional contact restrictions come into effect.
For her, the results did not go far enough, says the executive head of government.
“The situation is highly dramatic.
We have to observe whether we can stop the momentum or at least slow it down.
Otherwise we run into a very difficult situation.
We have always said that we don't want to overwhelm our health system.
It was absolute time to act, "she says:" We will see whether what we decided today is enough. "
The hospitalization incidence is divided into thresholds 3, 6 and 9.
From threshold 3, the 2G rule comes into force across the board, from threshold 6 onwards, the 2Gplus rule is used.
In addition, the 3G rule should come at work and in public transport.
Corona summit in the news ticker: Angela Merkel comments on the results of the federal-state round
Update from November 18, 6:20 p.m.:
The federal-state round is over.
The Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) makes a press statement.
It is "irrelevant whether Germany is in a phase with an executive federal government," she says about her role in the pandemic. The only thing that matters is “what the right and important measures are.” Germany is “in the middle of the fourth wave” and in a “dramatic situation”. It is now about "the quick vaccination with the booster vaccination". In the federal states there is an incidence range of 117 to 911 in this mixed situation.
"We need a quick stop and a braking of the exponential increase," says Merkel and means: "We know we could be better off if the vaccination gap weren't so big. Measures would not have been necessary if we had more vaccinated people. ”Currently, 27 million booster vaccinations are still missing, four million such booster vaccinations have already been given.
Update from November 18, 5.45 p.m.:
According to participants' information on Thursday, the federal and state governments agreed on nationwide access restrictions in public life for non-vaccinated people during their corona consultations.
According to the proposed resolution, only those who have been vaccinated or recovered (2G) should have access to, for example, leisure, cultural and sporting events, restaurants as well as body-friendly services and accommodation.
The measures should then take effect - if not already done - if the hospitalization rate reported for the respective country exceeds threshold value 3.
That is the number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days.
Corona summit: draft resolution from Merkel and state leaders - that's it
Update from November 18, 3:52 p.m.:
The latest draft resolution for the corona summit by the federal and state governments * provides for measures for further action in the pandemic in a total of 18 individual points.
"In some regions there is already a shortage of intensive care beds," says the paper available to
Merkur.de
: "We can only defeat this virus with an overall social effort." The most important plans at a glance:
In addition to a vaccination appeal, the template also contains a new plan for expanding the range of vaccinations - for example via mobile vaccination teams.
Vaccination centers are to receive financial support from the federal government until the end of April 2022.
All citizens should receive an offer for a booster vaccination “after 6 months at the latest”.
The federal states should specifically call for boosters, first of all the over-60-year-olds.
In old people's and nursing homes nationwide, employees and visitors should show negative tests - this also applies “regularly” to vaccinated employees.
The federal states consider compulsory vaccination for “members of the health and care professions and all employees in hospitals and facilities for the disabled” to be “necessary”.
However, this is not a resolution, but a request to the federal government - i.e. the traffic light parties who are still divided on this issue.
The rules already adopted by the traffic light regarding 3G at work, in local public transport and the home office regulations are also mentioned.
The group also supports the free citizen tests that have already been reintroduced.
The federal government should provide the states and municipalities with masks, antigen tests and “other material”.
Possibly “free of charge” - this word is in square brackets, so it seems controversial.
Specific values for the implementation of 2G and 2G-Plus measures are given (
see update from 3 p.m.
).
"Strict controls" are required.
In day-care centers and schools, tests are to be carried out “regularly and in a way that is suitable for children”.
The Chancellor and Prime Minister express "deep thanks and respect" to the nursing staff.
The somewhat meager conclusion: "Against the background of the special burdens on nursing staff in the past few months, the federal states reaffirm their resolution of March 18, 2021, according to which the framework conditions and remuneration in nursing must be permanently and steadily improved." provide a new "care bonus".
Financial aid should also be continued, the "Bridging Aid III Plus" until March 31st.
A special fund for cultural workers should be made more flexible, and seasonal goods should be able to be written off more easily for longer.
Corona-MPK is running: Merkel warns of an emergency - Kretschmer makes gloomy forecast for all of Germany
Update from November 18, 3:22 p.m.:
At the current Corona summit, there are apparently drastic warnings. Disagreements about the new Infection Protection Act of the traffic light * passed at noon will also be carried out according to the participants. According to information from the dpa, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) spoke of a very drastic situation and an emergency. The vaccination gap is too big - and some instruments will soon no longer be available.
The possibilities of the states were not enough, said North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) according to the participants. The alleged new Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), however, defended the traffic light decisions, according to information from the group. He referred to a wide range of measures to break the fourth wave. These went well beyond the previous instruments. The package of measures provides, among other things, requirements for proof of vaccination, recovery or test (3G) at the workplace and in transport. The Federal Council still has to give its approval, but the Union threatens to reject it.
Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) had previously issued a dramatic warning.
He announced a two to three week "breakwater" in his country.
The state government will first wait for the decisions in the Bundestag and Bundesrat on the Infection Protection Act, said the Prime Minister on Thursday in the state parliament in Dresden.
But then she would decide on such a measure immediately.
Given the current infection dynamics, no other region within Germany will make it until Christmas without overloading the systems.
In Saxony, however, the point to intervene has already been reached.
At the same time, Kretschmer indicated that the measures could not apply equally to vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
Corona summit: mandatory vaccination for several professions is apparently in a new resolution proposal
Update from November 18, 3:05 p.m.:
A new draft resolution for the Corona MPK is already in circulation.
According to the paper, the prime ministers want vaccinations for nurses, hospital and elderly care staff, reports the
picture
.
Furthermore, people under the age of 18 are apparently to be exempted from 2G rules.
It is said that the SPD country leaders had asserted themselves against the Union-led countries.
These would have advocated exceptions only for children under 12 years of age.
According to the report, the minister-presidents also want nationwide regulations in terms of compulsory daily tests at work, compulsory home office and 3G in public transport.
In principle, all of this is already part of the traffic light's new infection protection law.
Corona summit: first MPK decision apparently made - hospitalization rate will be decisive
Update from November 18, 3 p.m.: The
federal and state corona summit is now running - and there is apparently already an initial agreement.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Ministers have agreed
on a specific mechanism for the application of 2G and 2G + rules in restaurants, bars, as well as for body-friendly services and events
, according to a report by the
Business Insider
portal
.
Accordingly, 2G should apply from a hospitalization rate of 3.0, 2G + but a hospitalization rate of 6.0.
The rate should also be decisive for further measures.
From a value of 9.0, the federal states should be able to take further steps, reports the website.
Of course, this is in accordance with the recently passed Infection Protection Act.
Contact restrictions for unvaccinated people would be conceivable.
According to information from
Focus Online
, Merkel opened the summit with the words “we're full!”.
Following the outgoing head of government, her alleged successor Olaf Scholz (SPD) should speak.
Corona summit live: important points still completely unclear - is Merkel speaking one last word of power?
Update from November 18, 1:10 p.m.:
The federal-state consultations on measures against the dramatic corona development are delayed.
The Prime Minister's Conference with the Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), originally scheduled for 1 p.m. on Thursday, will initially be postponed by one hour, according to the state chancelleries of the federal states.
Before the meeting, there were still many crucial points open.
Among other things, it is unclear whether a threshold value should be defined for Covid-19 patients in hospitals, beyond which there should be access restrictions for unvaccinated people or, for example, test obligations for vaccinated and convalescent people (2G plus).
+
Olaf Scholz (SPD), Executive Minister of Finance, in conversation with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) during the session of the Bundestag.
© Michael Kappeler / dpa
Various preliminary draft resolutions are available for this purpose.
This is a basis for discussion.
In preliminary talks that went well, there had already been approximations, according to participants.
As in the previous rounds of the Prime Minister's Conference (MPK) with Merkel, a final agreement is only reached at the very end.
Corona in Germany: federal-state consultations - important points still open
Update from November 18, 12 noon:
In the country consultations on the Corona crisis, there is still no agreement on important points shortly before the meeting with the Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) planned for the afternoon. It is still unclear from what hospitalization rate there should be access restrictions for unvaccinated people or, for example, test obligations for vaccinated and convalescent people (2G plus). This emerges from a proposal for a resolution presented to the German Press Agency on Thursday, which was sent to the other states on the night of Wednesday evening from North Rhine-Westphalia after deliberations with the heads of state chancellery. NRW is currently the country where the Prime Minister's Conference is chaired.
In principle, the draft resolution now available is only a basis for discussion.
As in the previous rounds of the Prime Minister's Conference with Merkel, a final agreement is only reached at the very end.
On Thursday it was unclear how long the deliberations, which began in the early afternoon, would last.
It was also unclear how the extension of the epidemic situation of national scope, called for by the Union side, would continue.
In the Bundestag, the Union parliamentary group submitted an application for an extension, but it was given little chance of success.
The traffic light factions of the SPD, Greens and FDP are against it.
+
Angel Merkel and Olaf Scholz meet with those responsible from the federal and state levels.
© Markus Schreiber / dpa
This point is also put in brackets in the paper for the deliberations between the Prime Ministers and Merkel.
In the unified point 19 of the paper it is said that the application of important measures listed in the Infection Protection Act requires the establishment of an epidemic situation of national scope.
This is likely to be the attitude of the Union-led countries.
Corona summit live: Lockdown tightening in conversation - does Merkel have one last word of power?
Update from November 18, 11.29 a.m.:
The traffic light would like to let the epidemic situation of national scope expire, Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, has a different opinion.
At the German Association of Cities, she said that she had no doubt "that we are in the middle of such an emergency."
At the Prime Minister's Conference scheduled for the afternoon, Merkel could try again to use her political power and to set the direction for German corona policy. But it won't be easy, after all, Merkel is only in office as a manager.
The Union now wants to use a motion in the Bundestag to ensure that the epidemic situation does not end. But they will hardly find a majority there. According to information from the news magazine
Spiegel
, the traffic light groups were even ready to talk recently and approached the Union. The deadline for a transitional arrangement for the new measures has moved the traffic lights from the end of November to mid-December. Nevertheless, the Union wants to prevent the traffic light package and try to get stricter measures through the Prime Minister's Conference and the Federal Council on Friday.
Update from November 18, 9:59 a.m.:
Before the Prime Minister's
Conference
on the corona pandemic, the executive head of the Chancellery Helge Braun from the CDU asked the traffic light parties to extend the epidemic situation on a national level. “The best thing would still be to prolong the epidemic situation. That would give the federal states every opportunity in the event of even higher incidences, ”Braun told the
editorial network Germany
. "The catalog presented by the traffic light has been tightened, but it is not complete."
The epidemic of national proportions expires on November 25th.
Instead, the traffic light coalitioners want to seal new regulations as a corona brake.
They are intended to create a different legal basis for local conditions *.
The corona wave continues to build up.
The health authorities reported the maximum of 65,371 new cases in one day on Thursday.
Corona summit: Federal and state governments discuss new measures - will there be another lockdown?
Update from November 18, 8:00 a.m.:
Before the corona crisis meeting of the federal and state governments, the districts demanded the rapid introduction of mandatory vaccination for employees in nursing homes. It was “high time for certain occupational groups to be compulsory,” said the President of the German District Assembly, Reinhard Sager, to the newspapers of the Funke media group on Thursday. This is necessary "in view of 15 million unvaccinated people, a seven-day incidence of over 300 and a regionally worsening situation".
The umbrella organization of the German Nursing Council also called for mandatory vaccinations for all employees in nursing homes and hospitals. A vaccination requirement only for certain professional groups such as doctors or nurses is the wrong way, said association president Christine Vogler of
Wirtschaftswoche
. “You should consider that often half or more than half of the nursing staff in facilities are not skilled workers.” They are semi-skilled or temporary and are therefore not covered by a vaccination requirement.
"When we talk about vaccination requirements, we basically have to talk about everyone who works in the facilities," demanded Vogler.
“Everyone who goes there every day is in direct or indirect contact with the others.
This applies to doctors, nurses, assistants, caretakers, kitchen workers and cleaning staff. ”Vogler pointed out that there were already vaccination guidelines that could quickly serve as a model.
For example, staff in hospitals have to prove that they are protected against hepatitis.
First report from November 18, 7.30 a.m .:
Berlin - The fourth wave of the corona pandemic * has Germany firmly under control. In the fight against the corona virus *, the federal and state governments want to discuss an adjustment of the measures on Thursday afternoon (November 18). Both the outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel * (CDU *) and her potential successor Olaf Scholz * (SPD *) will attend the summit.
Immediately before the beginning of the federal-state summit, the traffic light parties want to have their infection protection law approved by the Bundestag on Thursday morning.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder criticized at the beginning of the week that the draft law by the SPD, Greens * and FDP * will be presented to the plenary without waiting for the Corona summit.
"It would have been better, instead of having a Prime Minister's Conference on Thursday afternoon, to do it in the morning or Wednesday - before the law is passed," said Söder on Tuesday (November 16) in the ZDF "Morgenmagazin" *.
Corona summit: Söder etches before the federal-state meeting against the FDP
The CSU boss also commented on the different views of the traffic light in terms of mandatory vaccination for certain professional groups.
"There is a section that fights with hands and feet against tightened measures," said Söder, "that is the FDP." The SPD and the Greens are more solution-oriented.
Among other things, the traffic light partners are planning a 3G rule at work and on public transport.
In addition, the law is intended to preserve the possibility of enforcing corona measures such as the mask requirement or contact restrictions even after the epidemic situation has expired, which are of national scope.
Nevertheless, there was criticism from the Union, the traffic light plans do not go far enough *.
Corona summit: Infection protection law of the Apel parties already approved on Friday?
If the draft law makes it through the Bundestag * on Thursday and it is passed there, the new Infection Protection Act could be approved by the Bundesrat * on Friday.
In addition to the Infection Protection Act, the topic of booster vaccinations is also likely to be hotly debated.
A demand came from Hesse the day before the federal-state summit.
Prime Minister Volker Bouffier asked the
dpa for
a nationwide uniform regulation for Corona booster vaccinations.
In addition, the father of Hesse wants to clarify with the summit participants whether there should be economic aid for certain industries that have suffered particularly from the corona restrictions.
(kh / dpa / afp) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
List of rubric lists: © Michael Kappeler / dpa POOL / dpa