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Bettina Stark-Watzinger: "Unfortunately, I tested positive for Corona"
Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa
The Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP), has been infected with the corona virus.
"Unfortunately, I tested positive for Corona and am therefore in domestic isolation," wrote the FDP politician on Twitter on Sunday and was disappointed that she could not make several planned visits to Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, among other places, in the coming days .
»I was really looking forward to my summer tour.«
According to a spokeswoman, it is the first time that Stark-Watzinger has been infected with the corona virus.
The ministry only announced the minister's tour on Twitter on Friday, where she wanted to find out about new technologies such as green hydrogen.
The first stop this Monday should be a visit to Erlangen.
According to the ministry spokeswoman, it is planned to make up for the summer tour.
From the cabinet, Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) had recently tested positive for Corona.
The nationwide seven-day incidence of infections detected has risen again slightly in the past week, writes the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in its latest weekly report.
According to the RKI, the vast majority of infections can be traced back to the omicron subline BA.5, which has been dominant since mid-June, and the subtypes assigned to it.
Kassenärztechef Andreas Gassen had recently called for all isolation and quarantine requirements to be lifted and had received positive signals from Stark-Watzinger’s party.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, however, refuses to change the quarantine rules: »Infected people must stay at home.
Otherwise, not only will the number of cases increase even more, but the workplace itself will become a security risk," wrote the SPD politician on Twitter.
Lauterbach told SPIEGEL that the discussion was based on “the thesis that an infection is better than a vaccination.
Translated, that would mean: Now is the time for contamination.” But “hundreds of deaths are already being accepted every day.
I do not consider this anti-scientific position«.
pbe/dpa