Corona: The federal and state governments want to change strategy

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PCR test in Munich

Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / dpa

The federal and state governments want to react to the rapidly increasing number of corona infections by changing the test strategy.

This emerges from a draft of the draft resolution for the video conference between the prime ministers and the federal government on Monday.

The document is dated Sunday, 2 p.m. and is available to SPIEGEL.

Laboratories are already overloaded, it says.

»When bottlenecks occur, it is therefore essential to prioritize.«

PCR tests are only available to a limited extent.

They should be "focused on vulnerable groups and staff who care for and treat them."

Specifically, it is about staff in hospitals, in practices, in nursing, integration assistance facilities and for people at risk of serious illnesses.

If an infection is suspected, a PCR test should continue to be carried out on these people – the same applies to high-risk patients.

On the other hand, in the case of positive antigen tests, the result should not be checked with a PCR test.

Instead, this is to be “done with a second monitored high-quality antigen test”.

According to the draft, there should no longer be any PCR tests in the future, even if there is a warning in the Corona app and in the case of “preventive serial examinations in a company context”.

An antigen test in a certified test center is planned as a replacement.

According to the draft, priority should also be given elsewhere: in follow-up.

The high number of new infections every day and the limited capacities of the health authorities made this necessary, according to the draft resolution.

The top priority should be to follow up contacts to protect vulnerable groups - for example in relation to hospitals, in nursing and in integration assistance facilities.

The health authorities should also prioritize contacting infected people and their household members.

Contact persons should only be traced if resources allow - the federal and state governments are calling on the population to inform contact persons themselves.

»Develop opening perspectives«

For the first time, an end to the restrictions is also being envisaged: The document says literally that for the moment “at which an overload of critical infrastructure in general and the health system in particular can be ruled out”, the federal and state governments would “develop perspectives for opening”. – should start at major outdoor events.

Another point is probably to be interpreted as a reaction to clear criticism: In future, determinations on the status of vaccinated and recovered persons should be announced and justified in good time before they come into force due to their considerable scope.

It was recently decided that the recovered status would expire after three months instead of the previous six.

This significant change was communicated very cautiously.

The prime ministers want to meet on Monday at around 11.30 a.m. for a virtual preliminary meeting before talking to Chancellor Olaf Scholz at around 2 p.m. in the afternoon.

It is possible that there will still be changes to the draft resolution before then - or that the document will be revised at the meeting.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had recently spoken out against easing and again campaigned for the introduction of a general obligation to vaccinate.

According to the draft, this should not be an issue at the federal-state meeting.

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