Corona summit: quarantine change is imminent - Lauterbach calls for further contact restrictions

Created: 01/06/2022, 09:14 AM

By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi, Cindy Boden, Anna-Katharina Ahnefeld

Another Corona summit is due on Friday - all under the sign of the new Omikron variant.

Quarantine times, vaccinations and contact restrictions are becoming an issue.

The news ticker.

• The next Corona * MPK is on Friday.

  The government's expert council has agreed on an amendment to the vaccination status

  (see update from January 4, 9:03 p.m.).

• Health Minister Lauterbach wants to propose stricter corona measures at the federal-state conference

  (update from January 4, 7:20 a.m.)

  and also defines a new vaccination target

  (see update from January 5, 10:40 a.m.).

• A draft resolution for the meeting of health ministers has been leaked

  (see update from January 5, 3:05 p.m.).

• This news ticker is updated regularly.

Update from January 5, 10 p.m.:

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has reiterated his call for further contact restrictions before new federal-state consultations on the corona pandemic. He thinks this is necessary in view of the Omikron wave, said the SPD politician on Wednesday evening in the ZDF “heute journal”. You have to proceed with a sense of proportion. But Lauterbach also emphasized: "We will probably have to improve again." Adjusted quarantine rules and a continuation of the booster campaign are also required. The booster vaccinations are the best protection against the Omikron variant. Lauterbach called for the high vaccination rate to be resumed as before Christmas.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (r, SPD) comes together with Hendrik Wüst (CDU), Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Franziska Giffey (l, SPD), Governing Mayor of Berlin, to a press conference on December 21, 2021 after the deliberations on Corona Pandemic between the Federal Government and the Conference of Prime Ministers of the federal states in the Federal Chancellery. © Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa

The minister spoke out in favor of wearing protective masks for schools. These would work very well against the Omikron variant. Lauterbach appealed to the federal states to make the wearing of masks a requirement. FFP2 masks would be recommended here. Unfortunately, there are no suitable masks for many children, especially smaller ones. Lauterbach also defended the amended quarantine rules proposed by the Conference of Health Ministers with shorter time outs for staff in important supply areas linked to PCR tests. This would keep these areas viable. Sufficient PCR tests are available for this. Up to 2.3 million PCR tests could be performed per week

Update from January 5, 4:55 p.m.:

After the Conference of Health Ministers (GMK), Saxony-Anhalt's Minister of Health and at the same time chairwoman of the GMK Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD) stepped in front of the cameras for a press conference. The decision of the health ministers asked the heads of the states, who will meet on Friday

for the Prime Minister's Conference, together with the Federal Ministry of Health "to develop guidelines that we have now recommended with our decision," said the SPD politician.

Due to the delayed and partly unreliable data situation, it is assumed, according to Grimm-Benne, "if the incidence values ​​rise even higher that contact follow-up is no longer possible, at least in the health authorities". That is why “very practical suggestions” have now been prepared. The GMK chairman announced that infected people with basic immunization who are employed in critical infrastructure such as the police, fire brigade and telecommunications should be able to end their isolation after 5 days by means of a negative PCR test in order to resume work.

The following applies to the general population: For symptom-free infected people, as well as close contact persons without basic immunization, the quarantine should be shortened to 7 days and it should also be possible to end it with a negative PCR test. According to the decision of the GMK, people who have received a booster vaccination or have recovered do not have to be quarantined. However, we recommend regular self-testing.

When justifying the decisions, Grimm-Benne relied on studies on the omicron mutation. According to studies, the variant currently has a milder course of the disease. "That is why we think it is justifiable to adapt the isolation and quarantine regulations accordingly, at least for the Omikron variant," said the SPD politician at the press conference. “That has always been financed by the federal government so far, that would not change now,” the GMK chairwoman also answered to a question about the financing of the tests. In addition, she called for more uniformity in 2G rules.

Update from January 5, 3:05 p.m.:

The ministers of health are currently discussing the Omikron variant. The

now reports a resolution proposal, according to which the quarantine time could possibly be shortened from 14 to 10 days. Other suggestions are also made. For example, the quarantine of unvaccinated or recovered people can possibly only be ended with a PCR test. Vaccinated people can get out of quarantine after seven days, using an antigen test with a certificate, as the report says. People from systemically important occupational groups may be able to end the isolation with a PCR test after five days.

Contact persons without symptoms should be allowed to end the quarantine after seven days, unvaccinated people need a PCR test.

Boosted people or people whose vaccination was not more than three months ago may not even have to be in quarantine as a contact person.

But they should test themselves often, it is said.

All of these proposals have not yet been decided and the health ministers themselves have not yet commented either.

The federal and state governments will discuss on Friday and want to come to final decisions.

Corona summit: "There is a broad consensus on what to do now"

Update from January 5, 1:47 p.m.:

The federal government is working on new corona protective measures for the federal-state peak meeting on Friday. The chairman of the Corona Expert Council, Heyo Kroemer, informed the Federal Cabinet about the current pandemic situation on Wednesday, said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit on Wednesday in Berlin. “There is a broad consensus about what needs to be done now,” said Hebestreit.

The government spokesman did not want to give details of the planned new measures with reference to the federal-state consultations on Friday.

On Wednesday, the heads of state chancellor and the health ministers of the federal and state governments would also have consultations on this.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had already called for stricter contact restrictions, in particular to slow down the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant

.

Karl Lauterbach (SPD), Federal Minister of Health, comes to the first cabinet meeting this year.

© Hannibal Hanschke / dpa

Söder before the federal-state round: "Not a bureaucracy monster"

Update from January 5, 10.55 a.m.:

The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) expects an expert recommendation before the federal-state meeting on Friday.

"If there is an expert advice, it has to give a recommendation as to whether something needs to be changed and what," he said at a press conference in Munich.

One must approach such decisions with reason.

Among other things, there is currently a lot of discussion about new quarantine rules *, booster vaccinations and contact restrictions.

After a scientific recommendation, Söder wants a proposal from the Ampel government.

"But it has to be understandable," added Söder.

"Comprehensible for everyone," he also named as a criterion.

"Not a bureaucracy monster."

Prime Minister's Conference on Friday: New vaccination target for Lauterbach

Update from January 5, 10:40 a.m.:

After the holidays, the corona vaccination campaign is now starting again, said Health Minister Karl Lauterbach in an interview with the

. For the booster vaccination campaign, he announced a new target. “According to the modeling of the Robert Koch Institute, the goal should be that more than 80 percent of those who have been vaccinated twice are also boosted, i.e. 56 percent of the population. Then Omikron has a hard time, ”said Lauterbach.

According to an 

report, 59.3 million people have so far been vaccinated twice.

32.7 million people received a booster vaccination.

This corresponds to 55 percent of all those who have been vaccinated twice.

Lauterbach's 80 percent target means that around 47.5 million people will still have to receive a booster vaccination.

That is around 15 million more people than currently.

Federal-state meeting: According to Lindner, there should be no new corona lockdown

Update from January 5, 9:05 a.m.:

Despite the growing wave of Omikron, there should be no new corona lockdown in Germany, according to Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner. "We want to avoid blanket and blanket closings in the future," said the FDP boss to the daily newspapers

and the partner newspapers of the

.

The virus variant Omikron is a challenge.

"Our goal is still to maintain social life as much as possible and to avoid social damage as far as possible," said the FDP leader before the federal-state consultations this Friday.

Instead, the health system should be able to vaccinate the entire population within a month in future waves.

Before the Corona summit: Lauterbach wants to further tighten the contact restrictions

Update from January 5, 7:20 a.m.:

At the next federal-state conference on Friday, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to push through shortened quarantine times and further tightening of contact restrictions due to the threatened spread of the corona virus. "Unfortunately, tightening will be necessary in order to counter the heavy wave that is coming our way," Lauterbach told the newspapers of the

. “I will make suggestions,” he emphasized, without wanting to give details.

The restrictions are particularly important for unvaccinated people. "I would like to spare the unvaccinated that they come to the intensive care unit," said the SPD politician. They should therefore get vaccinated “quickly” at least once. Lauterbach again campaigned for an early introduction of the general compulsory vaccination. "The vaccination must come quickly," he told the

. “We cannot wait for a compulsory vaccination to become superfluous because we have a very high level of infection in the population”. He is working on a proposal for mandatory vaccination for people over the age of 18.

The prime ministers of the federal states will meet with representatives of the federal government on Friday to reassess the pandemic situation in Germany.

The heads of the federal and state governments want to advise on shortening the quarantine and isolation times, with which personnel bottlenecks at important facilities are to be avoided.

The health ministers are already discussing this on Wednesday.

The ministers of education will also meet on Wednesday.

They are expected to speak out in favor of keeping schools open despite the increased spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Karl Lauterbach (SPD), Federal Minister of Health © Michael Kappeler / dpa

Vaccination status boom at Corona summit?

Expert advice on Lauterbach probably already agreed

Update from January 4, 9:03 p.m.:

On Tuesday (January 4), the 19-member expert council of the federal government met with Health Minister Karl Lauterbach for a video meeting.

According to

, however, the committee was unable to come to a joint decision.

In addition to the classification of the current corona situation, the implementation of a possible shortening of the quarantine time, the effects of the Omikron variant and booster vaccinations were discussed.

Apparently there was agreement that in future only people with three vaccinations should be considered fully vaccinated.

"We cannot yet say whether the measures have worked over Christmas because we will only see the development of the infections in the coming days," said expert council member Stefan Sternberg as saying.

Therefore, they want to meet again either Wednesday (January 5th) or Thursday (January 6th) and then publish a recommendation. 

Health ministers of the federal states meet with Lauterbach before the federal-state summit

Update from January 4, 7:53 p.m.:

On Wednesday (January 5), the federal and state health ministers will meet at short notice for a video conference, as announced by the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Health.

The state has chaired the Conference of Health Ministers (GMK) since the beginning of the year.

In view of the growing wave of omicrons, a change to the corona quarantine rules is to be discussed at the video conference.

This means that the heads of department will meet before the Prime Ministers' consultations with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday (January 7th).

Update from January 4th, 6.44 p.m.:

Already before

the next federal-state summit on Friday (January 7th) will be discussed eagerly.

A possible shortening of the quarantine time for people who tested positive for the coronavirus and their contact persons is under discussion.

For a professional group, this is even possible now.

According to a document from the Robert Koch Institute, exceptions apply to medical staff who have tested positive.

According to this, hospitals, for example, can consider shortening the 14-day quarantine in individual cases in the event of an "acute staff shortage".

This only applies to people with an easy course.

In addition, those affected must be symptom-free for 48 hours and two PCR tests must be negative within a minimum of 24 hours.

Before the federal-state summit: Söder calls for new quarantine regulations

Update from January 4, 5.45 p.m.:

Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder is calling for a shortening of the Corona quarantine regulations - following the example of other countries, such as France or Italy.

Söder raised the issue to the core question for the upcoming MPK on Friday.

“The traffic light now has to make suggestions on how to continue using Omikron.

The basis for this must be a scientifically sound assessment, ”said the CSU boss on Tuesday of the German Press Agency in Munich.

Above all, it is important to know whether the milder course will reduce the burden on the hospitals.

“It is necessary to revise the current quarantine regulations.

With a rapidly growing spread, we cannot quarantine the whole country at the same time, ”says Söder.

Update from January 4, 5:33 p.m.:

The Corona Expert Council met on Tuesday to discuss the current situation in front of the MPK (Friday).

After the meeting, the local representative in the council spoke out in favor of more uniform national regulations.

As an example, he cited access to gastronomy: “We see it in a circle that we have a real gastronomy run on other federal states, in which - unlike us in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania - you don't need an additional negative corona test “, Says Stefan Sternberg.

"I think that will also be the subject of the Prime Minister's Conference on Friday," he added.

Before the Corona summit: new tightening of rules?

Expert council member with assessment

Sternberg also confirmed that the consultations were also about possible changes to the quarantine time. However, he did not give any details.

However, it remains to be seen whether, in addition to standardizing the measures, new, stricter rules will be necessary, according to Sternberg. It is important that reliable data are available on the spread of the new virus variant. "We will only see after the weekend what effects the contact restrictions had over Christmas," said Sternberg. However, an initial inventory has shown that Germany is two weeks behind most other countries in terms of the spread of the Omikron variant. But you have to wait until more test results are available again and provide a more precise picture of the infection situation. "In the course of the next week we will see where the train is going and whether it is not necessary to go in again with further measures, or whether a standardization is sufficient."

Corona summit is approaching: RKI presents draft new rules

First report from January 4th:

Berlin - The next Corona summit * is due on Friday, January 7th.

It is clear that the federal and state governments will agree new regulations in the fight against the corona pandemic.

The meeting is all about the Omikron variant and a possible new regulation of the quarantine times.

According to a report by the

newspaper, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) will even today present a draft for new quarantine and corona rules.

It had already been announced that the RKI is expected to make a recommendation before the Corona summit on Friday.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has also already announced that a possible shortening of the quarantine is up for debate. Another mutation from Cameroon has caused a stir since the beginning of the week. In the run-up to the summit, Lauterbach spoke exclusively to

.

The Education and Science Union (GEW) advocates shortening the corona quarantine for teachers. At the same time, GEW chairman Maike Finnern confirmed to the

the demand to keep the schools open in principle. "The face-to-face teaching should be continued across the board," said Finnern. "It cannot be that children and young people are taught from home for weeks on end."

Corona summit on Friday: demand to shorten the quarantine - RKI numbers incomplete

The German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB) is pushing for a solid database for the decisions.

“We need a solid database of information about the infection process as soon as possible.

Otherwise politics cannot decide, ”said DStGB general manager Gerd Landsberg of the

newspaper on Tuesday.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has been pointing out for days that the figures it recently published on new infections with the corona virus are incomplete.

Because of the holidays, fewer people were being tested and not all health authorities passed their data on, the institute said.

RKI President Lothar Wieler.

© Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa

A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced on Monday that the RKI would present reliable data on the current level of infection in Germany during the course of the week.

MPK: The federal-state meeting is dominated by the Omikron variant

Germany's leading clinic doctors are also calling for a shortening of the quarantine for corona infected people and their contact persons who work in important care areas.

"Those who have recovered and who have been vaccinated should be allowed to go back to work after seven days if they take a PCR test on the sixth day after finding an omicron infection and the result is negative," said Michael Weber, President of the Association of Leading Hospital Doctors (VlK), in conversation with the

.

For close contacts of Omikron-positives, the quarantine obligation should be dropped entirely if they are employed in the critical infrastructure, Weber said. If this group of people tested negative three days after the risk encounter and showed no symptoms, "no quarantine should apply," said the association president of the

. "The people will soon be urgently needed."

The doctor from Dachau justified his approach with the Omikron experience from other countries.

"Here too, very, very many people will be infected with the new Corona * variant in the foreseeable future," he said.

With the currently applicable rules "we would then come into a critical personnel situation, from the bus driver to the nursing staff".

It is therefore important that isolation and quarantine be "limited to the absolute minimum" for this group.

The shortening should only apply to vaccinated and convalescent people who work in important care areas.

In addition, it must be tested closely.