Corona: Incidence rises above 800 – first details about compulsory vaccination leaked

Created: 2022-01-24 05:49

By: Marc Dimitriu, Magdalena Fürthauer, Katharina Haase, Christina Denk

While the nationwide incidence is at a record high, facility-related compulsory vaccination is the subject of controversial discussion.

The news ticker.

• The corona infections are rising to a record value across Germany

  (see update from January 22, 10:25 a.m.)

  .

• The state health ministers therefore want to focus contact tracing on corona cases in the health sector

  (see update from January 22, 3:55 p.m.)

  .

• The institution-

  related vaccination requirement

  is also discussed controversially

  (see update from January 22, 8:48 p.m.).

• This ticker has ended.

  The sequel from January 23rd can be found here.

Update from January 23, 7:17 a.m .:

The nationwide 7-day incidence reported by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) exceeded the 800 threshold for the first time.

The RKI gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Sunday morning as 806.8.

The health authorities in Germany reported 85,440 new corona infections to the RKI within one day.

This emerges from figures that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5:04 a.m.

Corona in Germany: traffic light coalition advises on vaccination from the age of 18 – first details known

Meanwhile, government plans to prepare for mandatory vaccination are taking shape. The deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese, who, together with other members of the traffic light coalition, is preparing the key points for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18, now gives details of the plans: The obligation should be limited to one to two years, apply to no more than three vaccinations and be enforced through fines, says the domestic and legal politician of the German Press Agency. According to the Administrative Enforcement Act, the upper limit for a fine is 25,000 euros.

Meanwhile, the approval of a general obligation to vaccinate is falling among the population. According to a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency, 60 percent are in favor of general vaccination, 32 percent are against it, and 8 percent do not provide any information. At the beginning of December, 63 percent were still in favor and only 30 percent against.

Update from January 22, 10:22 p.m

.: The state health ministers have decided to prioritize the PCR tests and contact tracing. This is already a reality in one state. Due to the steep increase in the number of cases, some health authorities in NRW are already only contacting people who are particularly at risk of being infected with corona. According to ZDF, the Ministry of Health announced that the situation in the health authorities was tense. The country supports the offices with more funded positions, and soldiers are also deployed.

North Rhine-Westphalia currently has a 7-day incidence of 680.8, according to the RKI on Friday (January 21).

However, the federal state is by no means one of the front runners.

Four federal states currently have an incidence of over 1000.

Berlin (1,258.3), Hamburg (1,221.9) and Bremen (1,258.7) were already above the mark on Friday.

Now Brandenburg has also exceeded 1000 as the fourth federal state.

Corona in Germany: Health ministers decide Novavax as the preferred vaccine for compulsory vaccination

Update from January 22, 8:48 p.m .:

The health ministers of the countries consulted on Saturday. Among other things, it was about the planned, facility-related compulsory vaccination

The health ministers decided that health and care workers can receive the vaccine from Novavax "preferentially". According to a report by the

, a first delivery of 1.75 million doses of the vaccine should be available from February 21st.

Novavax is a protein-based corona vaccine, a method that has long been known and used in the fight against other diseases.

Therefore, the vaccine could also be of interest to people who have reservations about the new technologies of mRNA and vector vaccines.

Some federal states called for a postponement of the vaccination requirement, which is to come into force on March 15th.

The launch of the Novavax vaccine should first be awaited.

Two doses of vaccine are required for a full vaccination with the Novavax vaccine.

However, the demand was rejected by SPD co-boss Saskia Esken.

Meanwhile, virologist Drosten has warned of a combined mutation of delta and omicron.

Corona in Germany: compulsory vaccination for special professions comes into focus

Update from January 22, 7 p.m.:

On Saturday, the health ministers of the federal states, in addition to PCR tests and contact tracing, also considered the upcoming, facility-related compulsory vaccination.

This is to apply to employees in clinics, nursing homes, medical and dental practices, rescue and nursing services, birth centers and other medical and nursing facilities from March 15th.

For nurses, among other things, the facility-related vaccination requirement will come into force on March 15th.

This has now been the subject of heated debate by the health ministers.

© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa

The health ministers advocated a multi-stage procedure so that unvaccinated employees would not have to be immediately banned from working.

Critics have repeatedly expressed fears that mandatory vaccinations could result in the loss of more workers in the already tightly occupied care sector.

In the multi-stage procedure, fines should first be imposed.

Some federal states also called for a postponement of the vaccination requirement.

SPD co-leader Saskia Esken rejected these demands today.

The obligation to vaccinate will only take effect from March 15th, there will be enough time for other vaccines from manufacturers such as Novavax to be available.

Corona in Germany: Reform for contact persons will probably come

Update from January 22, 3:55 p.m .:

According to dpa, the health ministers of the federal states decided at a switching conference on Saturday to focus on contact tracing of corona cases in the hospital and care sector and in care for the disabled in the future.

They are following a suggestion by Karl Lauterbach.

In addition to contacting infected people and their household members, the follow-up in these areas should be carried out “with the highest priority” to protect so-called vulnerable groups, according to a unanimously passed decision.

It refers to the expected further strong increase in the number of infections caused by Omikron, which, despite the milder course, should soon be noticeable in the health care facilities.

Like the other health ministers of the federal states, Karl Lauterbach is in favor of a new focus on contact tracing.

© IMAGO / Political Moments

"In addition to the adjustments to the quarantine and isolation rules decided by the federal and state governments, the tracking of contact persons should therefore also be strategically realigned nationwide," it continues.

You simply need a “uniform orientation across countries”.

"Further contact persons" should therefore expect that they "usually can no longer be contacted by the responsible authorities with a significant time delay," said the health ministers.

Corona virus: RKI reports new incidence record

Update from January 22, 10:25 a.m .:

Also on Saturday the corona numbers in Germany seem to keep increasing - and even reach a new record value.

According to the RKI, the seven-day incidence is now 772.7, on Friday it was 706.3.

Never before in the course of the pandemic has there been such a high incidence throughout Germany.

This added 135,461 new infections and 179 deaths.

Districts with the highest incidence are still in and around Brandenburg, but the numbers are also going through the roof around Munich.

The Dachau district recorded 1288.1 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last week.

The health ministers of the federal and state governments are therefore again discussing how to proceed today.

According to the AFP news agency, the agenda includes compulsory vaccination, dealing with the recovered status and general measures with regard to the Omicron variant.

A statement is expected around 12 noon.

Corona in Germany: Saarland's 2G rule in retail suspended by a court

Update from January 21, 6:20 p.m .:

The Saarland Higher Administrative Court (OVG) has temporarily suspended the access restriction to retail stores under the 2G regulation. The OVG in Saarlouis announced on Friday that this would grant an urgent application from several Saarland specialist markets for electronic items. The decision means that in Saarland the 2G regulation will generally no longer apply in retail until further notice.

For Lower Saxony, the Higher Administrative Court in Lüneburg overturned the rules in mid-December. The Bavarian Administrative Court suspended the 2G rule for retail in Bavaria this week. In the opinion of the Higher Administrative Court of the Saarland, "the regulation violates the principle of the rule of law derived from the requirement of certainty of norms". The only exceptions to the rule are shops whose range of goods or services serves to cover daily needs.

However, exceptions also apply to other shops.

However, it is unclear according to which criteria the retail businesses would be covered by the exemption.

Because neither the catalog of exceptions nor the official justification result in uniform, objectifiable criteria for the extended scope of the regulation.

The decision is final.

Corona in Germany: BaWü puts suspended rules back into force

Update from January 21, 12:28 p.m

.: The people in Baden-Württemberg will have to adapt to new corona rules next week. It is likely that only the second highest level will then apply, the normal alarm level, which would be associated with some relaxation. The country wants to reinstate the regular tiered system of corona restrictions that was suspended on January 12th in the middle of next week, as a spokeswoman for the State Ministry told the German Press Agency in Stuttgart on Friday.

The government is also reacting to a ruling by the Administrative Court, which declared the freezing of alert level II with severe restrictions for the unvaccinated to be partially illegal. If the burden on hospitals remains at the current, slightly lower level, the normal alarm level will apply again. Actually, this level provides for significantly fewer restrictions. However, the government wants to adjust the rules again in the individual stages, especially at events. With the new version of the Corona Ordinance, she also wants to wait for the results of the next federal-state meeting next Monday on the further Corona strategy.

It is controversial to what extent the measures can be relaxed because of the milder course of the disease in the omicron variant. Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) had recently urged caution because the data on Omikron was not yet reliable. Freezing alarm level II, which was originally planned until the end of January, contradicts the Federal Infection Protection Act, according to the VGH. The green-black state government had retained this level in the Corona Ordinance out of concern for the omicron variant of the corona virus, thereby repealing the limit values ​​​​for the burden on hospitals by the end of January.

The spokeswoman for the Ministry of State explained that the VGH decision initially only affected the Corona regulation for study operations.

"However, we will update the main Corona regulation in the coming week as planned anyway and end the "freeze" of alarm level II, which was explicitly designed as a temporary solution until February 1st at the latest." The level system logic will basically be retained.

“Measures should continue to be based on the incidence of hospitalization and the load on the intensive care units in the future.

"Because the Omikron wave is also about protecting the healthcare system from being overloaded and ensuring that the sick in Baden-Württemberg receive appropriate treatment."

Virologist gives hope for an early improvement

Update from January 21, 11:50 a.m

.: The omicron wave is still heading towards its peak.

The virologist Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit nevertheless gives some hope that the situation will ease.

In order to be able to assess this better, the course of the wave over the next one to two weeks is decisive, the doctor explained to the 

.

"At the moment I'm assuming that we'll be done with that in the next month or two."

In his opinion, one must then discuss how to proceed and whether the endemic phase has been reached.

However, he assumes that no further corona variants will follow that have worse effects than the previous ones.

"It's very unlikely."

Virologist Klaus Stöhr warns of extensive relaxation in the omicron wave - he also thinks stricter rules are wrong

Update from January 21, 10:25 a.m

.: Virologist Klaus Stöhr does not consider it necessary to reassess the corona measures in the light of the omicron variant, but also warns against excessive easing.

“To me, opening everything now sounds a bit like driving from the right-hand ditch into the left-hand ditch.

Somewhere the road is in the middle and I think they find other countries better," said Stöhr on the RBB broadcaster on Thursday evening.

Because of the many less severe courses of the disease and the high immunization rate in Germany, it is by no means right to “continue like the last year and a half,” emphasized the virologist.

Although the omicron variant spreads rapidly, it tends to be associated with milder courses than the delta variant.

Countries like Spain are therefore considering changing the corona strategy, also because the number of corona intensive care patients is nowhere near as high as in the delta wave.

Before the top consultations of the federal and state governments, the number of those who are pushing for a reassessment of the corona measures is increasing.

Just like the CSU.

“It is true that the fundamentals are changing with Omikron.

We need an omicron check for the Corona* management in Germany," said CSU General Secretary Markus 

.

Already on Monday, January 24th, the government wants to discuss the protective measures at the Corona Summit.

Incidence shoots up to more than 700 - 49 counties over 1000: One city hit particularly hard

Update from January 21, 9.30 a.m

.: Not only have the 7-day incidence and new infections risen to new record levels, the number of urban and rural districts with an incidence of more than 1000 has also increased enormously. There are now 49 circles above it. The number has almost doubled compared to the previous day, yesterday it was 25. The day before yesterday the number was 15. The five districts in Germany with the highest incidence are all in Berlin. Berlin-Mitte, Neukölln, Spandau, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Pankow head the sad list.

Update from January 21, 6:34 a.m

.: The nationwide 7-day incidence has exceeded the threshold of 700 for the first time.

The RKI reported a value of 706.3 on Friday morning.

It was 638.8 the day before, 470.6 a week ago, and 306.4 a month ago.

140,160 new corona infections were registered within one day (previous week: 92,223).

170 deaths from or with Corona were added (previous week: 286).

Experts expect more and more infections that cannot be recorded, partly because laboratories and health authorities are increasingly reaching their capacity limits.

Hospital society: Omicron wave is already burdening normal wards

According to the German Hospital Society (DKG), the burden on the normal wards in regions with high omicron numbers has increased massively.

"Looking at the numbers, the load in the intensive care unit seems to be decreasing, but the load in the normal ward remains high or even increases significantly," said DKG CEO Gerald Gass to the

newspapers on Friday.

However, the RKI recently found a stagnation in the incidence of hospitalization.

In the most recent weekly report, the RKI also noted a further downward trend in the number of patients in the intensive care units - the currently exploding number of infections will therefore only be reflected there with a delay.

With a view to the federal-state consultations on Monday, Gass demanded specific statements on the general obligation to vaccinate.

The German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi) became clear on the subject: "There is no alternative to compulsory vaccination for adults in order to leave the pandemic behind in the long term," said Divi President Gernot Marx to the

.

"Without a higher vaccination rate, we will remain stuck in a kind of permanent loop."

Scene from a mobile corona test station.

© Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa

Virologist Kekulé considers compulsory corona vaccination to be useless

The virologist Alexander Kekulé has spoken out vehemently against a general obligation to vaccinate. “I was already against the general obligation to vaccinate with the Delta variant because it was not epidemiologically necessary. At Omikron it's even less appropriate," he said in the podcast "Die Wochentester" from

and

.

In Kekulé's opinion, an obligation to vaccinate does not help: "I don't understand why you want to make vaccines that were made for the original Wuhan variant mandatory for a future variant of which you don't even know the properties." If the vaccine will be delivered against Omikron, the Omikron wave is through.

He assumes that the autumn wave will be even easier.

“Then we will be through with the pandemic in terms of social and economic disruption.

Then it will be another infectious disease.”

"Will get such a high number of cases": Lauterbach announces a change in the PCR test

Update from January 20, 3:40 p.m.:

Lauterbach’s proposal for prioritizing PCR tests received

Support from the President of the German Medical Association, Klaus Reinhardt.

In younger people, it would be sufficient to determine a corona infection with a quick test, he said on Deutschlandfunk.

In his view, confirmation with a PCR test is no longer necessary.

The Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen demanded that the PCR test capacities “should be used first to secure the critical infrastructure and to detect infections in symptomatic people”.

He explicitly

included schools in an interview with the

Corona vaccination obligation: Lauterbach continues to call for the introduction

The latest development is also fueling the debate about general corona vaccination. Lauterbach reiterated his position on ZDF that this had to be introduced: "In my opinion, we can't get out of the mess without compulsory vaccination," he said. Doctor President Reinhardt also spoke out in the newspapers of the

again in favor of general vaccination. This could be justified in a few weeks if no significantly higher vaccination rate was then achieved in Germany.

However, there are also doubts about compulsory vaccination, precisely because of Omikron.

"For the omicron wave, the obligation to vaccinate is probably too late," said the Hamburg virologist Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit the

.

After the omicron wave with a large number of infections, “the question of whether such a duty makes sense” arose.

In the coming week, the Bundestag will discuss possible vaccination requirements for the first time.

SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich said on Thursday before the start of a closed meeting of his parliamentary group that "we will quickly present the first key points" after the debate next Wednesday.

He assumes that there will be discussions about compulsory vaccination "which will apply from a certain age limit".

Further information campaigns and low-threshold vaccination offers are also necessary, stressed Mützenich.

By autumn, the population should be “so strong basic immunization” that the country can deal with the pandemic “more calmly” than in 2020 and 2021.

Lauterbach expects a steep increase in corona infections in the coming weeks.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

Lauterbach wants to prioritize PCR tests

Update from January 20, 9:23 a.m .:

In view of the shortage of PCR tests, Lauterbach wants to give preference to employees in sensitive health facilities in the laboratory evaluation.

"We will actually get such a high number of cases that we will have to distribute the PCR, have to prioritize it, and I will present a proposal at the weekend on how that should happen," Lauterbach announced on Wednesday evening.

According to Lauterbach, the draft resolution should be decided on Monday during renewed consultations between the federal and state governments.

Well over 100,000 new infections: And Lauterbach expects many more soon – “highest probability”

First report from January 20, 2022:

Berlin – The current corona trend is continuing in Germany: the number of infections is increasing – and breaking new records every day.

The incidence* in the Federal Republic is 638.8 on Thursday morning, January 20 (previous day:

584.4).

The RKI also reports over 133,000 infections on Thursday - both new highs.

Karl Lauterbach expects that this development will not change too quickly.

By mid-February, the Minister of Health is forecasting several hundred thousand new infections* a day.

Corona: Lauterbach expects several hundred thousand new infections a day

With a view to realistic scenarios, it can be assumed “that the wave will peak around mid-February and that we will then have to expect several hundred thousand cases a day,” said the SPD politician on Wednesday evening in the ZDF program “Markus Lanz”. . Although it is not certain that the scenarios will come about, "they have the greatest probability".

There are countries that could cope with such numbers with a view to the intensive care units - however, the situation in Germany is different.

Lauterbach warns: "Since we have a high number of unvaccinated among the elderly in Germany, things can turn out very differently here than in Italy, France or England, for example".

A concrete example: In England, for example, the number of unvaccinated people in the over-50s group is one to two percent.

"These are values ​​that we cannot reach."

Corona in Germany: According to Lauterbach, the hospitalization rate is “irrelevant snapshot”

So far, however, the wave triggered by the Omicron virus variant has not been reflected in the intensive care units.

According to the medical association Divi, the number of corona patients there has fallen from around 5,000 to 2,664 since the first half of December.

At the moment, comparatively few older people who are particularly susceptible to severe courses are infected.

Lauterbach said of the falling hospitalization rate that this was an "irrelevant snapshot" because the wave that is currently running in England and France is yet to come in Germany.

"I would expect the right load in the intensive care units in mid or late February, that's still a month away and then I hope it will still look good," said Lauterbach.

"That's going to be the endurance test, not what we're seeing now.

You can read more news about the corona pandemic here.