Leonhard against lockdown despite exploding corona numbers
Created: 01/14/2022, 12:38 p.m
Melanie Leonhard (SPD) at a press conference.
© Marcus Brandt/dpa/archive image
Hamburg's Senator for Social Affairs, Melanie Leonhard, does not believe that another lockdown is necessary despite the exploding corona numbers in the city.
"I don't think at the moment that the lockdown is what we need," said the SPD politician on Friday.
Experiences in the Netherlands, for example, have shown that even strict restrictions cannot prevent the spread of the omicron variant.
Hamburg – “At the moment, I think we just have to deal with the situation as it is.” In addition, a lockdown is currently not possible due to the lack of a federal legal basis.
Leonhard spoke of an “extremely dynamic phase” in the pandemic.
Due to Omikron, the ideas about the number of infections would have “dramatically shifted” again.
"All we know about Omikron is that it is spreading very successfully (...), so that the exploding number of cases has to do with the fact that the virus has already established itself here." The good thing about the variant is that " that we only see relatively few symptomatic courses in vaccinated people".
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In Hamburg, the seven-day incidence, i.e. the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within one week, rose to a new high of almost 900. 3841 newly detected cases were added on Friday alone - more than ever before.
dpa