Corona incidence in Germany rose again slightly for the first time - Expert advice calls for measures

Created: 12/20/2021, 09:20 AM

By: Patrick Huljina, Katharina Haase

The corona numbers have fallen, but the look at a possible omicron wave worries experts.

Nevertheless, many Germans want to travel over Christmas.

The news ticker.

• The Corona * incidence in Germany has risen slightly for the first time in days.

  (see update from 7:05 a.m.)

• The Netherlands are in lockdown because of Omikron - is that also threatened in Germany?

  (see update from December 19, 2.40 p.m.)

• This news ticker is updated regularly.

Update from December 20, 7:05 a.m.:

After a long downward trend, the seven-day incidence rose slightly for the first time compared to the previous day. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Monday morning as 316.0. For comparison: the day before the nationwide value was 315.4, a week ago it was 389.2.

The health authorities in Germany reported 16,086 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. This is evident from the numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 4:53 a.m. Exactly a week ago there were 21,743 infections. The number of reported infections has been falling for almost three weeks. However, due to the particularly contagious Omikron variant, experts fear an imminent trend reversal. New Chancellor Olaf Scholz has therefore invited the Prime Ministers to a federal-state summit on Tuesday to discuss a possible tightening of the applicable measures to contain the pandemic and the spread of the Omikron variant.

Update from December 19, 6:55 p.m.:

Vaccine boost because of Omikron: At the beginning of the year, the EU will receive 20 million more Biontech doses than initially planned. As the EU Commission announced in Brussels on Sunday, the European states will each receive five million additional doses from Biontech / Pfizer in January and February, and even 10 million more in March.

This increases the total number of expected Biontech deliveries in the first quarter of the coming year to 215 million.

A similar agreement has been concluded with the manufacturer Moderna, the commission announced.

The additional doses are to be used in particular as a booster vaccination - according to experts, this is the best strategy against the worrying virus variant Omikron.

The federal government announced on Wednesday that it would buy more than 90 million additional vaccine doses for a total of 2.2 billion euros.

This was preceded by heated debates about the vaccine situation in Germany *.

Corona lockdown due to omicron?

Green politician sees new problem and brings closings into play

Update from December 19, 3:35 p.m.:

The Green health politician Janosch Dahmen has warned of massive staff shortages, for example in hospitals, in the event of the Omikron variant spreading further. "We have to be prepared for the fact that a lot of staff will be absent due to illness in areas of the critical infrastructure," said Dahmen to the

.

"I see this danger not only in hospitals and care facilities, but also, for example, in the fire brigade, police, pharmacy and grocery store," explained Dahmen, who had recently considered compulsory vaccination for some officials. “Every day must be used to vaccinate and boost in these areas. A general FFP2 mask requirement at the workplace must be ensured. In addition, forward-looking personnel planning is required. ”Experience from countries such as the Netherlands, which are now entering a lockdown, suggested that minor measures were not enough. "Shutting down non-essential retail stores can be just as much an instrument as industry-wide company holidays into January to get Omikron under control."

Corona in Germany: FDP health expert against a lockdown

Update from December 19, 2:40 p.m.:

Omikron is on the rise in Europe.

Denmark has drastically tightened its corona rules.

Austria has already had a lockdown, in the Netherlands it starts today.

Is Germany threatened with a similar scenario?

FDP health politician Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus described the current Corona situation in this country as "very serious".

Nevertheless, she spoke out against a lockdown like in the Netherlands.

“Instead of a lockdown, the various existing instruments should be exhausted.

In particular, there must be no school closings, because our children have already suffered a lot from the loss of their social contacts and educational opportunities, ”explained Aschenberg-Dugnus to the dpa.

“The fact remains: Vaccination is and will remain the way out of the pandemic.

That is why we are doing everything we can to massively expand the range of vaccinations and boosters. "

The first countries have already been or are in lockdown because of Omikron.

Is that also threatened in Germany?

(Archive image) © Roland Schlager / dpa

The high rate of vaccination must be maintained during the holidays.

“The federal government has reorganized the pandemic management within a very short time.

We introduced the Corona Expert Council and improved vaccination logistics.

These are important measures to contain the Omikron variant, "said the FDP health expert.

Corona in Germany: Minister of Education calls for more vaccinations to be offered in schools

Update from December 19, 1:45 p.m.:

The new Federal Minister of Education Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) wants to make significantly more vaccination offers directly in schools. “That has to be at the top of the agenda of the federal states in order to keep the schools open,” she told the Berliner

. It is conceivable, for example, that the school doctor vaccinates during the long break or that mobile vaccination teams go to schools.

Stark-Watzinger emphasized that this should "of course always be done in consultation with the parents".

It is important that the vaccination offer for children and adolescents is low-threshold.

"I see that, along with hygiene measures and digital offers, as the key to reliably running the school," she explained.

School closings across the board should not happen again.

"In short: as long as we can still go to the football stadium, no school is allowed to close," said Stark-Watzinger.

Corona in Germany: concern about the Omikron wave

First report from December 19:

Berlin - If you look at the numbers, the corona situation in Germany seems to be relaxing. The nationwide seven-day incidence fell again compared to the previous day. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the value on Sunday morning (December 19) was 315.4. This is still a high value, but the previous week it was significantly higher at 390.9.

But experts expect a trend reversal in Germany soon. The reason: Omicron. The new Corona variant seems to be significantly more infectious than the previously known. In some countries such as Great Britain and Denmark, Omikron has already led to a significant increase in the number of cases. Due to the spread of the Omicron variant, Great Britain will be considered a virus variant area from Monday (December 20). This is accompanied by strict travel restrictions for returnees to Germany.

“Making entry safer helps to prevent the Omikron variant from spreading so quickly.

We cannot prevent the spread, we can only delay it.

The longer it takes for Omikron to have a grip on Germany, the better, "said Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), explaining the dpa decision.

Virologist Christian Drosten also repeatedly warned of the new variant.

A wave of Omikron will lead to "massive loss of work" *.

Shortly before Christmas, many experts are worried about an Omikron wave in Germany.

© Hannes P. Albert / dpa

Corona survey shows: every fifth German wants to travel for Christmas

Despite the still high number of infections and the impending omicron * wave, almost every fifth German wants to travel for Christmas. In a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the dpa, 13 percent said they wanted to travel to celebrate Christmas with friends or relatives. Six percent of those surveyed are planning a vacation trip. On the other hand, 79 percent want to stay at home over the holidays. Two percent gave no information.

In view of the impending Omikron wave, the new federal government has set the goal of creating 30 million corona vaccinations by the end of the year.

The head of the new Corona * crisis team in the Chancellery, Major General Carsten Breuer, is now confident that this goal can be achieved.

More than 24.4 million people in Germany have been vaccinated since mid-November.

There are now just under two weeks left.

“The 30 million can be created,” Breuer told

.

The vaccination target is calculated based on a federal-state round on November 18th.