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The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
The government measures to contain the corona pandemic were sometimes highly controversial.
Minutes of discussions in the crisis team of a central health authority are now being made public.
Berlin - The Federal Ministry of Health has countered suspicions about external influence on a higher risk assessment by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on the Corona situation in March 2020.
“The RKI is absolutely independent in its professional assessments of diseases,” said a spokeswoman in Berlin in response to a report by the online magazine “Multipolar,” which published partly redacted protocols from the RKI crisis team from January 2020 to April 2021.
A protocol from March 16, 2020 states: “It should be scaled up this week.
The risk assessment will be published as soon as (passage redacted) gives a signal.” The ministry spokeswoman made it clear that “an internal RKI employee” was behind the redaction.
The institute also made the new risk assessment public in a press conference the following day.
The ministry explained that the RKI had carried out a technical assessment of the situation, which should be seen in the context of the time.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the pandemic five days earlier, on March 11, 2020.
In Bergamo, Italy, 4,500 people died of Covid-19 in February/March, and several countries had also imposed entry bans shortly beforehand.
Blacking out names is common in such contexts because employees also have to be protected, said the ministry spokeswoman.
According to its own statements, “Multipolar” enforced the release of the published minutes through legal steps as a result of a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The portal, which has made it its mission to present different perspectives on social and political issues, is considered by critics to be close to conspiracy narrative publications.
dpa