Corona summit: These new rules could come - expert advice with a statement

Created: 01/04/2022Updated: 01/04/2022, 9:41 AM

From: Tobias Utz

New rules are in the room before the Corona summit: The new Expert Council and the RKI are now meeting.

Berlin - In the run-up to the Corona Summit *, which will take place on Friday (January 7th, 2022) in the form of a video link, the first details are already circulating about what the federal and state governments could advise. The reason for the deliberations is the spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus. Research expects that the highly infectious mutation will soon replace the previously dominant delta variant. So far, only a few aspects of the new Corona variant * have been researched. A detail that is being investigated in numerous studies is the possible course of Covid-19 after an infection with Omikron. The latest data indicate a mild course *.

For this reason, among other things, shorter quarantine periods for boosted people, who are, for example, Omikron contact persons, are already being discussed before the Corona summit.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach * said on Sunday that there would be "new measures" in this regard.

The decision should be based on the scientific assessment and expertise of the new expert council of the Ampel-Coalition.

Together with the Robert Koch Institute, recommendations are to be developed that will be presented during the week.

Corona summit because of Omikron: Expert advice makes statement

The expert committee will meet on Tuesday (January 4th, 2022).

The recommendation of the researchers is eagerly awaited, as there is currently no concept for possible massive failures of the critical infrastructure.

For example, there are fears that Omikron infections could lead to personnel bottlenecks in the fire departments or the police.

Virologist Christian Drosten * predicted as early as December 2021: “Omikron will lead to massive absence from work due to illness.

Also in essential professional groups. ”Shortly before the turn of the year, the RKI warned of a“ sudden increase in the number of infections ”in January 2022.

Interview with Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach.

(Archive photo) © Localpic / Imago Images

Karl Lauterbach also said that the Omikron wave was expected at the start of the year.

Before the Christmas holidays, the modeler Dirk Brockmann, who advises the RKI among other things, spoke of a “risk of cascades of infrastructural failures”: “If synchronously, at massive speed and in large numbers, sickness-related work absences take place, even if in these cases the course does not at best are difficult, there is a risk of cascading infrastructural failures, ”Brockmann said on Twitter.

Omikron: failure of critical infrastructure - experts warn

"The situation is very, very critical - and is not clearly communicated by politicians," warns Holger Berens, chairman of the board of the Federal Association for the Protection of Critical Infrastructures, to the news portal T-Online.de. Accordingly, it is conceivable that employees, for example from waterworks, isolate themselves permanently at work so as not to be absent for emergencies.

It is so far unclear whether the quarantine duration will actually be shortened for those who have been boosted.

Lauterbach's announcement sounds like it.

He took up the suggestion of the Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek, who had brought the measure into play.

Lauterbach recently commented on the possible end of the corona pandemic - and caused astonishment. * (Do with dpa / AFP)