Corona in Germany: North Rhine-Westphalia tightens rules - but there is also relief

Created: 01/12/2022, 11:07 AM

By: Momir Takac, Patrick Mayer, Bettina Menzel, Patrick Huljina, Franziska Schwarz

On Sylt, guests with forged vaccination certificates may have gained access to a Christmas party.

The 7-day incidence in Germany continues to rise.

The news ticker.

• The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) * reported a further increase in the incidence on Tuesday.

  (see update from January 11, 7.17 a.m.)

• Investigations are underway on Sylt after a Christmas party in Kampen.

  Guests could have had fake corona vaccination passports.

  (see update from January 11th, 8.25 a.m.)

• In North Rhine-Westphalia, the 2G-Plus rule will apply in many areas from Thursday.

  (see update from January 11th, 2:50 p.m.)

• This news ticker on Corona * in Germany * has ended.

  You can find the continuation from January 12th here.

Update from January 11th, 9:20 pm:

The Omicron variant raises questions: How well do the vaccinations against the mutation of the coronavirus work?

Are there any differences between the vaccines?

A search for clues.

Corona pandemic in Germany: Omikron has a huge impact on neighboring France

Update from January 11th, 9:05 p.m.:

Due to Omikron, Germany's neighbor France has set a record with more than 368,000 registered new corona infections within one day.

According to the French health authority on Tuesday evening, 368,149 new infections were reported within 24 hours.

The previous high from last Wednesday was 332,252 registered infections.

The number of cases in France has skyrocketed over the past few weeks.

The omicron variant of the coronavirus is now predominant in the country.

Corona pandemic in Germany: Many intensive care units no longer have free beds

Update from January 11th, 6.40 p.m.:

The coronavirus pandemic is already red alert in many German intensive care units, literally. A look at the intensive care register of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) reveals that. According to this, a number of German rural and urban districts between north and south, between east and west have no or hardly any free intensive care beds available.

The situation is particularly tense in the southeast around the Bavarian capital of Munich between Landsberg am Lech in Upper Bavaria and Dingolfing-Landau in Lower Bavaria. As of early Tuesday evening, January 11, both districts mentioned no longer had any free intensive care bed available. The same applied to the districts of Dachau, Fürstenfeldbruck, Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm and Landshut. The situation in Central Hesse turned out to be similarly difficult at the same time.

In the Wetterau district, for example, out of a total of 65 intensive care beds, only one was free; in the Lahn-Dill district, 45 out of 46 intensive care beds were occupied. In the university town of Giessen, which has a large capacity for intensive care because of its clinics, only 6.95 percent of the existing intensive care beds (174 in total) were available. The situation is also very serious in various parts of Baden-Württemberg. In Ludwigsburg, near the state capital Stuttgart, none of the total of 82 intensive care beds were available. The same applied to the very rural district of Biberach in Upper Swabia, in the Zollernalb district on the Swabian Alb there was only one free bed.

The situation was particularly alarming (not only) on Tuesday evening at the state border between Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony.

According to DIVI, the neighboring Lower Saxony district towns of Gifhorn and Helmstedt no longer reported any vacant intensive care beds, while the districts of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel and Börde behind the state border only had one free intensive care bed each.

The situation is currently tense in the federal capital, Berlin, where currently only around every tenth intensive care bed can be occupied.

Corona pandemic in Germany: FFP2 and 2Gplus - Berlin is also making adjustments

Update from January 11, 4:50 p.m.:

Like many other federal states, Berlin is tightening the rules in the coronavirus pandemic. For example, on Tuesday the Berlin Senate made it mandatory for local public transport to wear an FFP2 mask. As the

reports, the capital is also making adjustments in the catering sector because of Omikron - based on the resolutions of the federal-state summit.

The 2Gplus rule comes into force in the catering industry.

Ergo: Only those who have been vaccinated and who have recovered have access to eateries and restaurants plus a booster vaccination or with an additional negative corona test.

On this Tuesday, North Rhine-Westphalia, with around 17.9 million inhabitants, had already announced the switch to 2Gplus in gastronomy.

Bavaria, on the other hand, does not apply this corona rule - and remains with 2G evidence (without booster or test) in pubs and cafes.

Corona pandemic in Germany: NRW is switching to the 2Gplus rule in many areas

Update from January 11, 2:50 p.m.:

Due to the increasing corona numbers, the 2G plus rule will also apply in many areas in North Rhine-Westphalia from Thursday.

As NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) announced on Tuesday, this will apply to restaurants, leisure, sports and fitness, among other things.

People with booster vaccination are exempted from the additional test requirement in many areas.

Those who have the booster vaccination therefore no longer have to submit a test in recreational sports, among other things.

This relief will also apply in North Rhine-Westphalia to those who have been vaccinated twice and have recovered, said Laumann.

Just like boosters, they could do sports or go to restaurants without having to take an additional test.

In a number of federal states, corresponding 2G-Plus rules already apply today, for example in Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and in Hesse at least in Corona hotspots.

Last week, the federal and state governments had largely agreed to tighten the regulations accordingly.

Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria do not go along with the stricter 2G-plus rule in gastronomy.

Corona in Germany: Expired vaccine in Cologne - people get fourth dose

Update from January 11th, 1 p.m.:

After the administration of expired corona vaccines in mobile vaccination campaigns, the city of Cologne has announced further vaccination offers for those affected. "The city of Cologne will write to those affected as soon as possible and make them a short-term vaccination offer with the recommended time windows," said a message from Monday evening (January 10th).

For people who have been boosted with the expired vaccine, a fourth corona vaccination is due. The city learned on Thursday (January 6) that an expired vaccine had been administered. According to a statement by the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), which the city has received, “vaccines that have been stored in a way that deviates from the prescribed storage conditions may have certain losses in terms of effectiveness”. However, the institute does not assume a complete loss of the active ingredient.

In cases of first vaccinations with the expired vaccine, a second vaccination will likely compensate for the loss of effectiveness. Anyone who was vaccinated against the coronavirus for the second time with an incorrectly stored vaccine should be boosted by a third vaccination after just three months. Anyone who received their booster vaccination with the expired vaccine must be vaccinated again after four weeks at the earliest and three months at the latest.

Corona in Germany: Majority supports the 2G-Plus rule in gastronomy

Update from January 11, 11:50 a.m.:

According to a survey, a majority of people in Germany support the 2G-Plus rule in the catering trade. In a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov, 53 percent of the participants were in favor of the regulation, 35 percent reject it. 13 percent gave no answer in the survey published on Tuesday.

Last Friday (January 7th) the federal and state governments agreed on a 2G-Plus regulation for restaurants, cafés and pubs.

According to this, only vaccinated and convalescent people with a negative corona test and people with booster vaccinations have access.

The German Hotel and Restaurant Association had criticized the stricter access rules and warned of further losses in sales.

The nationwide introduction of 2G-Plus rules is a "disaster" for many, said General Manager Ingrid Hartges.

She pointed out that less than half of the people were boosted.

Corona in Germany: Sylt in lockdown: Police are investigating and have bad suspicions

Update from January 11th, 8.25 a.m.:

Due to the sharp rise in corona numbers, Sylt has entered a partial lockdown.

Numerous hotels and restaurants on the North Sea island temporarily closed.

"Due to the numerous Corona outbreaks, more than 20 restaurants and hotels in Sylt have temporarily ceased operations or are taking their company holidays forward to protect their employees and guests," said the managing director of Sylt Marketing, Moritz Luft.

The number of new infections has been increasing on Sylt since Christmas.

According to calculations by some local media, the seven-day incidence is currently more than 1700. The district of North Friesland assumes that many infections can be traced back to a Christmas party on Christmas Eve in Kampen.

Maybe it was a spreader event.

And that could now have consequences for some visitors.

Investigations are ongoing as to whether several guests at the Christmas party had fake vaccination certificates.

The spokesman for the Flensburg Police Department, Christian Kartheus, confirmed this to the newspapers of the Funke media group.

Up to three visitors are suspected of having gained access to the party in Kampen with forged corona vaccination passports.

Corona incidence rose again on Tuesday - hundreds of deaths reported

Update from January 11, 7.17 a.m.:

The new corona infections and the seven-day incidence continue to rise in Germany.

According to the RKI, the nationwide incidence value is on Tuesday

387.9.

The day before it was 375.7.

The health authorities reported 45,690 new infections within 24 hours.

A week ago it was 30,561.

322 people died in connection with the coronavirus.

Corona: Proof of recovery will only be available in digital form via QR code in future

Update from January 10th, 8.30 p.m.:

The falsification of 2G evidence is to be put a stop to. Proof of recovery should therefore only be possible in the future in digital form via a QR code. In a virtual conference on Monday, the federal and state health ministers agreed on this new regulation. Anyone who has a positive PCR test result that must not be older than six months is considered to have recovered. The recovered status applies no earlier than 28 days after the positive test.

“Up to now, it has generally not been possible to check proof of recovery in the form of a simple printout.

With the digitally readable proof, a forgery is made much more difficult, ”said the chairwoman of the conference, Saxony-Anhalt's Minister of Health Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD), as reported by the AFP news agency.

Shortage of nursing staff: Twelve percent of the positions in intensive care units are vacant

Update from January 10, 4 p.m.:

The shortage of nurses in hospitals has worsened in the past year.

In the normal wards, six percent of the positions and in the intensive care units twelve percent of the positions remained vacant, said the chairman of the German Hospital Society (DKG), Gerald Gass, the newspapers of the

.

"This is a very difficult situation, especially in times of continuously high levels of stress," said Gaß.

Corona in Germany: shortage of nursing staff continues to increase

"We have practically no reserves to compensate for staff shortages," said the DKG boss.

That is why some of the intensive capacities had to be canceled temporarily or permanently during the pandemic.

The shortage of staff has worsened for various reasons: The baby boomers went into retirement or early retirement, explained Gass.

In addition, many carers stayed longer on parental leave and then longer part-time.

While there is a lack of doctors in rural areas, nurses are more likely to move from cities to rural areas because of high rents.

The nurses also quit their jobs because of excessive workload, which in turn leads to a higher burden for the other employees, explained Gass.

Corona in Germany: Students in all federal states are back in class

Update from January 10, 2:55 p.m.:

After the Christmas break, school started again this Monday in eight federal states. There were special precautions because of the corona pandemic and Omikron. In North Rhine-Westphalia all pupils, teachers and other employees at the schools were tested on the first day after the holidays. In Bavaria, vaccinated and recovered pupils also have to test themselves regularly. In Baden-Wuerttemberg, tests are also being carried out more intensely in schools for six weeks.

School lessons began again in Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse, Saxony-Anhalt, Lower Saxony and Bremen.

In the eight other federal states, lessons had already started in the past few days.

The culture ministers responsible for education of the federal states confirmed their line last Wednesday (January 5th) that schools should also be kept open in the current Corona situation.

Germany: Incidence is skyrocketing - Streeck is promoting a new way of dealing with Corona

First report from January 10th:

Berlin - The incidence jump is big: The RKI reported a nationwide 7-day incidence of 375.5 on Monday morning.

A week ago it was 232.4.

The value is again as high as it was last before Christmas.

Furthermore, 52 new deaths from or with Corona were counted within one day.

The new infections during the period amounted to 25,255.

Meanwhile, the Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck campaigned for a “pragmatic approach” to the pandemic, “in order to learn to live with the virus”.

"On the other hand, the permanent alarm condition is tiring and unsuccessful," he told the

newspaper on Monday.

However, Streeck warned that the exposure in the hospitals "should continue to be monitored carefully and, if necessary, respond with measures".

This also includes “validly recording the hospitalization incidence”.

The hospitalization incidence indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants are in hospital within a week because of a corona infection.

According to the latest RKI report (Friday), it is 3.15 nationwide.

It is considered the decisive benchmark for tightening corona measures.

Lauterbach to Omikron in Germany: Further measures necessary

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, however, expects that further measures will be necessary in the fight against the Omikron variant.

The SPD politician described the “2G-plus” in gastronomy and the new quarantine rules as successes on Sunday evening in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”.

"I do think that will help us."

He added, however, that that would not be enough to defeat Omikron.

“I think the number of cases will increase.

Therefore, further action will be necessary in due course.

But that is now a very important step forward. "

The federal and state governments agreed on a 2G-plus regulation for restaurants, cafés and pubs on Friday: access only for those who have been vaccinated / recovered with a negative test and people with a booster vaccination.