Lauterbach warns of hundreds of corona deaths a day - now an internal letter has probably appeared

Created: 03/18/2022 04:53

By: Martina Lippl

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) describes the current corona situation in Germany as critical.

© Jürgen Heinrich/imago

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is very critical of the current infection situation in Germany.

The media report a letter from the minister that should be interpreted very differently.

Berlin – The number of corona infections in Germany is higher than ever.

The 7-day incidence was just under 1,500 for the first time on Saturday.

"The situation is objectively much worse than the mood," said Health Minister Karl Lauterbach on Friday in Berlin.

Lauterbach described the current corona situation as critical.

Referred to the deaths of 200 to 250 daily and that “in a few weeks more people will die from it.” It is a misjudgment that the more contagious omicron variant BA.2 is harmless.

The risk of a severe, even fatal course of the disease is particularly high for those who have not been vaccinated.

Lauterbach expects many corona hotspots in spring

Lauterbach warned that if many corona measures were lifted from March 20th, the countries should prepare for a spring with Corona.

"When the number of cases develops, I expect numerous hotspots in many federal states," said the SPD politician.

A threshold value for when the hotspot rule should take effect is initially still open in the draft amendment to the Infection Protection Act.

Lauterbach wants to cancel special corona payments for panel doctors

In a letter from Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, the situation is far less dramatic. Lauterbach apparently wants to delete the special corona regulations for panel doctors.

This emerges from a letter from the minister to the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians dated March 3, reports the

newspaper.

"Taking into account the stable situation in the intensive care units, an overload of the health system is currently no longer to be expected," says the letter that is available to the

.

Special payments, among other things, for protective equipment, storage and for the Corona hotline should therefore be omitted.

Lauterbach justified this with the seasonal effects, which probably had a favorable effect on the new infections.

In addition, the SPD politician points to a significantly milder course at Omikron.

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The nationwide 7-day incidence is 1496.0 on Saturday (March 12).

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has thus reported a new high.

More information in our news ticker about Corona in Germany.