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A cotton swab is put into a tube after a PCR smear to test for Covid-19
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BDI President Russwurm warns of extending the lockdown
4.40 a.m.:
BDI President Siegfried Russwurm believes calls to extend the lockdown are wrong.
“What the complete shutdown would bring is completely unclear.
Nobody knows whether it even helps to get the infection process under control.
But the damage would be enormous, "Russwurm told the Handelsblatt.
If production were to be shut down for three or four weeks, the same time would have to be used for starting up.
"Then let's talk very quickly about a negative GDP growth figure for the full year," said Russwurm.
Such strategies are not very realistic and would "trigger significant chain reactions across Europe," said Russwurm.
Heil calls for a Corona grant for those in need
04.25 a.m.: Those in
need such as Hartz IV recipients should, according to Federal Labor
Minister
Hubertus Heil, receive a financial grant in addition to free FFP2 masks.
The SPD politician pointed out in the »Augsburger Allgemeine« that with the closure of social institutions or libraries, many everyday aids that people in need could otherwise use were no longer available.
In addition, there would be rising costs for electricity or the promotion of children.
"People in need are particularly hard hit by the long-term measures," said Heil.
»I therefore want a Corona grant for people in need with which the greatest burdens can be balanced.
Corona must not lead to the social division of our society. "
Bavaria's Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek (CSU) has also spoken out in favor of financial compensation for those in need.
Kramp-Karrenbauer prohibits hairdressers in barracks
04.15 a.m.:
Hairdressers are not allowed to cut hair in the Bundeswehr barracks due to the corona pandemic.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer decided on Thursday that hairdressing salons in Bundeswehr barracks should be closed until further notice, said a ministry spokeswoman for the Augsburger Allgemeine.
Corresponding offers had been prohibited by decree.
On the basis of the Infection Protection Act, soldiers have so far been able to use the services of hairdressers in military properties even in pandemic times, the report said.
According to the ministry, this was necessary because of the required "correct appearance" of soldiers.
It also helps to ensure that an ABC mask, for example, fits correctly.
The ministry told the newspaper that the Bundeswehr did not have its own staff - i.e. hairdressers among the soldiers.
The exemption had caused a stir among hairdressers.
The manager of the Bavarian hairdressing trade association, Doris Ortlieb, told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”: “It is not acceptable for footballers or soldiers to have their hair cut professionally, but not everyone else is allowed to and usually does not. “It creates great resentment when some hairdressers can cut soldiers' hair, but others have to keep their salons closed.
WHO experts begin investigation into virus origin in Wuhan
3.30 a.m.:
The WHO investigation into the origin of the coronavirus in China begins.
Two weeks after arriving in Wuhan city, the researchers ended their quarantine.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the experts now want to meet Chinese scientists as well as visit markets and hospitals in Wuhan.
The international experts should find out where the virus first appeared and where it came from.
World medical president Montgomery calls for export ban for AstraZeneca
2.40 a.m.:
World Medical President Frank Ulrich Montgomery has sharply criticized the vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca for its delivery policy and called for an export ban on the vaccine.
"The behavior of AstraZeneca is underground," said Montgomery to the "Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland" (RND).
"It cannot be that the company exactly keeps its delivery promises for Great Britain, but only delivers a fraction of the vaccine doses promised for the EU," criticized Montgomery and called for a "hard" reaction from the EU.
"If the vaccine is produced on continental European soil, the company must be forbidden from delivering it outside the EU."
DGB warns of a high failure rate among apprentices due to Corona
02.20 a.m.:
The DGB warns that significantly more apprentices could
fail
their final exams than usual this year because of the corona lockdown.
The federal government should therefore "as soon as possible" set up a funding program for the examination preparation of trainees, demanded the deputy chief of the German trade union federation, Elke Hannack, in an interview of the editorial network Germany.
The trainees would need a right to a free additional exam preparation, said the union.
This could be offered by the chambers, but also with the help of the trade unions and vocational schools.
In addition, the apprentices should be released from their companies for additional learning days before their examination.
It is also in the interests of the companies "if their trainees pass the exams".
Hannack pointed out that the vocational schools had been closed again and again since March 2020, many companies were currently in lockdown and young people were often trained in the home office and not in the company.
"Many trainees who are taking their final exams this summer have learned a good half of their training time in a state of emergency."
On average, more than 90 percent of the trainees pass their final exams every year, said the DGB vice-boss.
"We have to be careful that there are no significant slumps in this Corona year because the quality of training has suffered in lockdown," she warned.
Esken and Kubicki: Prioritize vaccinating medical staff with AstraZeneca
1:55 a.m.:
The SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken has called for consequences from the recommendation of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) to inject the AstraZeneca vaccine only to adults under 65 years of age.
"On the one hand, we have to immediately procure alternative vaccines for people over 65 and, on the other hand, re-coordinate the vaccination sequence for the AstraZeneca vaccine that will arrive shortly," Esken told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
"Above all, clinic and nursing staff should be the first to benefit from the resources that are now free." FDP vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki also told the Funke newspapers that doctors and nursing staff should be vaccinated with the vaccine from AstraZeneca as a priority.
So far only the preparations from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna have been approved in the EU.
The EU Medicines Agency EMA is expected to issue a recommendation on approval of Astrazeneca's drug this Friday.
But the Swedish-British manufacturer of the EU has now announced delivery cuts.
Esken called the vaccination summit planned for Monday urgent.
"The vaccine procurement and distribution must finally be made a top priority," demanded the SPD leader.
So far, mass vaccinations in Germany have been slow due to a lack of vaccine quantities.
From the point of view of Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus, such setbacks were "quite to be expected".
The CDU politician told the editorial network Germany (RND / Friday) that there would be disruptions in the processes, but "with such a sensationally rapid development of the vaccine" was foreseeable.
Nine indigenous children in Brazil's Amazon region allegedly died of corona
01.05 a.m.:
Since the beginning of January, at least nine children of indigenous peoples have died of Covid-19 in the north Brazilian Amazon region of Roraima.
Yanomami and Yekuana representatives presented the relevant documents to the authorities on Thursday.
Accordingly, four children died in the community of Waphuta in connection with a coronavirus infection, 25 more were in mortal danger.
Five dead children were reported from Kataroa who allegedly suffered from Covid-19.
The children between the ages of one and five years had reportedly all had a high fever and breathing problems.
816 people live in Waphuta and 412 in Kataroa. The non-governmental organization Survival International had previously spoken of an impending »genocide« of the Yanomami caused by the coronavirus.
After the USA, Brazil is the worst affected country by the corona pandemic.
It recorded more than 220,000 deaths and nearly nine million infections.
The indigenous population is particularly at risk due to their lower immune system: According to estimates by the umbrella organization of the indigenous peoples of Brazil, around 40,000 indigenous people have been infected with the new virus and almost 800 have died.
British virus variant detected in other Airbus employees
0.30
a.m.: The British virus variant has been detected in five other corona-positive employees at the Airbus plant in Hamburg.
That said the spokesman for the health authority, Martin Helfirch, on Thursday evening of the dpa.
According to scientists, the mutation, which is more infectious, has now been detected in seven Airbus employees.
Last weekend it became known that 21 employees at Airbus had tested positive for the corona virus.
Quarantine was ordered for around 500 employees.
A total of twelve infections with the British virus mutation have been found in Hamburg since December, including five people returning from travel.
In addition, according to the information, the South African variant was also detected in another returnee.
An infection with one of the virus mutations in Hamburg has not yet become known, said Helfrich.
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