Expert council recommends preparation of further measures

Created: 2022-01-23Updated: 2022-01-23 03:22

A lettering "vaccination center" points the way to the corona vaccination base of the Vorpommern-Greifswald district.

© Stefan Sauer/dpa

With the current corona wave, seven-day incidences of several thousand could be reached regionally.

Experts are therefore calling for the timely implementation of possible further steps.

Berlin – Due to the rapid spread of the corona variant Omicron, the Federal Government’s Expert Council is calling for preparations for possible further steps.

"The highly dynamic infection process currently requires the maintenance and strict implementation of the previous measures," says a statement published on Saturday evening.

If, as a result of further increasing incidences, critical levels are reached, for example in terms of hospital admissions, further infection control measures could become necessary.

"These should therefore now be prepared in such a way that they can be implemented without delay."

Both contact restrictions and booster vaccinations are necessary to slow down the dynamics of the current wave and to protect the health system and critical infrastructure, according to the unanimous recommendation of the 19 council members.

It is therefore important to intensify the booster campaign.

Increase initially slowed

Due to the existing contact reductions and the prudent behavior of the citizens, the internationally observed steep increase in the number of infections in Germany was initially slowed down.

However, the Expert Council expects a further increase.

At the top, seven-day incidences “of several thousand could be reached regionally”.

The extent of the hospital burden will depend crucially on the incidences in unvaccinated adults and those over 50 years of age.

These are still comparatively low, but infections have been entered in the group of older people.

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The hospitalization rate is lower than expected for the Delta variant, but would have to be around 10 times lower than last winter in order to compensate for the expected high number of cases and not to overload the health system.

Such a strong reduction is currently not to be expected despite vaccinations.

"Accordingly, if the incidence continues to rise, a large number of hospital admissions are to be expected," writes the committee.

Gradually reduce contact restrictions

With an increase in basic immunity in the population and a decrease in the number of new infections and hospitalization rates, the contact restrictions should be gradually reduced again.

In the long term, it is urgently necessary "to close the remaining immunity gaps in society through vaccinations, since otherwise renewed strong waves of infection and disease can be expected cyclically." dpa