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Germans miss contact with family and friends
6 a.m.:
In times of the corona pandemic, around half of all Germans miss the most contact with family, friends and neighbors, according to a survey.
For 55 percent of women and 43 percent of men, the contact restrictions represented the greatest deprivation, said the BAT Foundation for Future Issues in Hamburg after a survey of around 3,000 German citizens.
Every second respondent even said "that he (re-) discovered the value of the family only through the corona pandemic".
More than 13,000 new corona infections in Germany
05.33 a.m.:
In Germany, more than 13,000 new infections with the
corona
virus were recorded
within one day
.
As the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced in the morning, citing information from the health authorities, 13,554 new cases of infection were recorded within 24 hours.
According to the RKI, the number of corona deaths in Germany rose by 249 to 14,361.
According to the latest figures from the institute, a total of 942,687 cases of infection have been registered in Germany since the start of the pandemic.
The number of people recovered was around 636,700.
Lauterbach finds it necessary to extend the corona restrictions
5:18 a.m.:
Karl Lauterbach defends the planned extension and partial tightening of the state corona restrictions in everyday life.
Otherwise, the number of cases could not be reduced sufficiently before Christmas, "so extension and tightening are necessary," said the SPD health expert of the "Augsburger Allgemeine".
In order to contain the pandemic, more needs to be achieved, especially in schools and at private meetings.
The partial lockdown has not yet been completely successful.
»The number of contacts should be reduced by 75 percent with the breakwater shutdown.
An estimated 40 percent was achieved, ”said Lauterbach.
Icon: enlarge
SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach
Photo: Christian Spicker / imago images / Christian Spicker
At the same time, the SPD politician was confident that there would be no simultaneous wave of flu and corona diseases in January and February.
"If the hygiene rules against the coronavirus are adhered to, there will be much fewer flu infections," said Lauterbach.
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, rates the previous lockdown measures as a success: "If we hadn't done anything, we would have 50,000 new infections per day today," he told the newspaper.
"The stable plateau is also a success, because before that we had exponential growth."
Söder: Bavaria prefers the start of the Christmas holidays
05.18 a.m.:
Bavaria prefers the start of the Christmas holidays because of the corona pandemic.
The last day of school before Christmas is Friday December 18th.
Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) said that to Bavarian Broadcasting.
This means that two school days are no longer applicable: Originally, December 23rd would have been the first day of vacation.
The distance between lessons and Christmas will be increased, said Söder.
"We are thus improving the possibilities for families in Bavaria to be able to celebrate the most important festival of the year in a healthy and carefree way." The risk of infection is "considerably reduced" by the almost one-week waiting period between school and Christmas, according to the Prime Minister.
Before the new federal-state consultations on the further course in dealing with the corona virus, the Union-governed states had spoken out in favor of such an extension of the holidays - at least that was the case in a joint paper.
First, North Rhine-Westphalia had submitted and announced an earlier start to the holidays.
In most federal states, December 18 is the last day of school before Christmas anyway.
Study: Forced ventilation in the classroom is more effective than filter devices
5 a.m .:
According to a study by Hessian scientists, shock ventilation in schools is many times more effective than the use of air filter devices.
Two professors from the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM) had determined the effect on previously released aerosols in an unused classroom of a Wiesbaden school, which were distributed in the room by a fan.
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Intermittent ventilation at secondary school in North Rhine-Westphalia: A dustpan holds the window in position
Photo:
Guido Kirchner / dpa
"The main result showed that opening all windows for three minutes at outside temperatures of 7 to 11 degrees Celsius reduced the concentration of aerosols introduced by up to 99.8 percent," said the THM in Gießen's report on the analysis.
With four mobile air filter devices in the room, a 90 percent reduction in concentration was measured after about 30 minutes.
The scientists also refer to the noise when operating the devices and the high costs of purchasing them.
The Federal Environment Agency has warned several times against relying too heavily on mobile air purifiers.
Their use in classrooms is no substitute for ventilation because they do not provide the necessary supply of outside air, it said.
There are cases in which air purifiers could "meaningfully supplement" ventilation - namely where windows could not be opened sufficiently.
However, air purifiers cannot remove all impurities from the room air.
Great Britain wants to shorten quarantine with negative test
1.30 a.m.:
The British government has announced easing the quarantine: From December 15, travelers from high-risk countries will be exempted from further quarantine after five days of self-isolation with a negative Covid-19 test.
You have to pay for the test yourself.
At present, travelers returning from affected areas have to isolate themselves at home for 14 days.
WHO warns of premature
corona
loosening over Christmas
1:17 a.m.:
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns of loosening corona restrictions over Christmas if authorities do not have the infection process fully under control.
"If people become infected with one another and if a country does not have the necessary infrastructure to pursue cases and isolate contacts and quarantine them, then relaxation will lead to greater contagion," said WHO emergency aid coordinator Mike Ryan on Monday evening in Geneva .
Governments need to be aware that they can only weigh risks.
There is no scientific formula as to which easing is justifiable or how many holidays are safe without major requirements.
"There's just a higher and lower risk that the situation will get better or worse," he said.
Governments would have to weigh the risks of the virus spreading further with the economic and social risks of maintaining restrictions.
If people are not allowed to meet over the holidays, there is great frustration, corona fatigue and possibly resistance to the measures, he admitted.
Icon: The mirror
sen / dpa / Reuters / AFP
