New corona rules for Christmas bring tightening
Created: 12/17/2021 Updated: 12/17/2021, 3:59 PM
An FFP2 mask is on a table.
© Daniel Karmann / dpa / symbol image
The number of corona cases is currently falling slightly.
But that is no reason to give the all-clear.
Social Affairs Minister Manne Lucha is convinced that the numbers will rise again from mid-January.
The situation is deceptive.
Stuttgart - The Corona regulation of Baden-Württemberg is tightened.
From next Monday there will be stricter rules for those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered.
You are then only allowed to meet a maximum of 50 people indoors or 200 people outdoors, as the Ministry of Social Affairs announced in Stuttgart on Friday.
With the specifications, the state implements a resolution of the federal-state conference.
A few days before Christmas, unvaccinated people are only allowed to meet among members of a household and one other person. Minors are not included, the Ministry of Social Affairs said. Furthermore, a ban on gathering and staying in public places could be imposed by the municipalities on New Year's Eve. This is to prevent larger meetings of people for New Year's Eve celebrations in public spaces. No more than ten people should come together there.
From January 1st, people who have not been vaccinated will need a PCR test or a rapid antigen test when going to the office in order to be able to visit the office.
The "Schwäbische Zeitung" (Thursday) reported on this regulation.
People without a vaccination who need physical and occupational therapy, obstetrics, speech therapy or podiatry must also have a negative test.
Economics Minister Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (CDU) showed understanding for the ban on trade fairs.
"We are in the middle of the fourth wave of the pandemic, which in turn hits us with full force."
Social Affairs Minister Manne Lucha (Greens) sees no relaxation in the pandemic. In his opinion, the hospitals in Baden-Württemberg could be significantly burdened by the new Omikron variant. The current decline in corona exposure should not be overestimated, said the Green Minister in the Stuttgart state parliament. "We'll probably have some relaxation by mid-January and then the omicron effect will come," he said. He had estimates from experts who, under certain circumstances, expect up to 1,000 corona patients in the intensive care units for the time thereafter. "In the long run, only vaccination, vaccination, vaccination helps," said Lucha in the state parliament debate about a general vaccination requirement.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) also expects a massive fifth corona wave from the new virus variant.
“I'm assuming a massive fifth wave,” he said on Friday in Hanover.
"We have to assume that the wave of omicons we are facing, which we cannot prevent from my point of view, will be a massive challenge for our hospitals, for our intensive care units, but also for society as a whole." Lauterbach spoke of a challenge "that we have not yet faced in this form".
Most recently, the seven-day incidence, i.e. the number of reported new corona infections per 100,000 inhabitants, fell in Baden-Württemberg.
The number of Covid patients in intensive care units in the country also fell compared to the previous day and was 621 on Thursday.
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So far, 71 cases of the Omikron variant from Baden-Württemberg have been sent to the State Health Office (as of Thursday, 4 p.m.).
In relation to the total number of infections, however, the variant hardly plays a role in Germany: practically all infections are currently still caused by the delta variant, writes the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
dpa
