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Munich: Corona test at the airport
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Primary schools in Rhineland-Palatinate open on February 22nd
8.31 a.m.:
The primary schools in Rhineland-Palatinate are scheduled to reopen on February 22nd.
"It is clear that the first steps have to be taken with schools and day-care centers," said Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) in the council of elders in the state parliament in Mainz.
After the federal-state consultations, the state government decided to "start off with alternating classes in elementary school after Shrovetide Week".
Then the classes should be divided into groups that study alternately at home and at school.
Obligation to attend schools was lifted on December 16 due to the sharp rise in the number of corona infections.
Walter-Borjans criticizes Altmaier
7.58 a.m.:
SPD boss Norbert Walter-Borjans stands behind the decisions to renew the corona shutdown.
The development of the number of infections shows that we are on the right track, said Walter-Borjans on Deutschlandfunk.
However, he criticized Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) for the delays in the disbursement of economic aid.
What is currently being seen in support for businesses in retail and catering is not the result of a lack of money, but rather of a lack of implementation.
"At this point, the Federal Minister of Economics has to come into his own."
Scholz on economic aid: "It can now go very quickly"
7.46 a.m.:
Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz defends the course in corona policy after the federal-state summit.
"We have to go bit by bit," said the SPD chancellor candidate to NTV.
"We have to come down to the values and stay there," he added, referring to the Corona case numbers.
The finance minister promised the companies affected by the crisis that state aid would be paid out more quickly.
"It can be done very quickly now," he said.
DIW boss: The federal government must launch another economic program
7.25 a.m.:
The President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, calls for further economic aid in the Corona crisis.
"The federal government will have to launch another economic program in the coming months," he said on ZDF.
The money that the state is now spending is well invested.
He shouldn't let himself be deterred by a "nonsensical debt brake".
At the same time, Fratzscher criticized the fact that many of the current aids were too slow and insufficient.
He mentions, for example, the self-employed and mini-jobbers.
"There are still too many falling behind," emphasized the DIW boss, especially the socially weakest.
Because defends shutdown extension
6.20 a.m.:
Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) is promoting the renewed shutdown extension.
"With regard to the mutations, we cannot promise anyone quick openings, no matter how much I can understand the pressure and suffering," Weil told the magazine "WirtschaftsWoche".
»There is one thing we all learned painfully: the ascent can come quickly and suddenly, while a descent is arduous and difficult.
It would be extremely damaging for businesses and companies if we ran into a third wave after the arduous struggle of the past few months.
That would be the worst case. "
Marburger Bund wants more tests
3.02 a.m.:
The Marburger Bund doctors' union is calling for a significant expansion of the tests for the corona virus after the shutdown.
"We not only have to test en masse and, in the event of positive results, order the isolation, but also enforce it consistently," said the chairwoman of the Marburger Bund, Susanne Johna, of the "Rheinische Post".
From the time after the first wave and also from the experience of other countries, one knows how important a "complete test regime" is for controlling the infection process.
Anyone who has contact with a person who has demonstrably tested positive must remain in quarantine until a negative result.
"If we don't heed that, the next wave of infections is already inevitable."
Intensive care physicians criticize regulations on daycare centers and schools
2.14 a.m.:
The intensive care physicians welcome the extension of the shutdown until March 7th, but criticize the inconsistent approach of the federal states in schools and daycare centers.
"The continuation of the lockdown is correct and reasonable from my point of view of the intensive care doctor," said Uwe Janssens, ex-president of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (Divi), the "Rheinische Post".
He welcomed the new benchmark, an incidence of 35. However, he would have wished for a uniform approach in the decisions to open schools.
He was disappointed that there will be "16 individual regulations", said the chief physician at the Clinic for Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine at St. Antonius Hospital in Eschweiler.
"It's brave to talk about openings at a time when we don't really know the risk of infection and the disease process of the mutations."
Altmaier wants to support vaccine manufacturers
1.24 a.m.:
Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) offers leading vaccine manufacturers his support to eliminate bottlenecks in the vaccine supply chains.
It is now important "to identify any weaknesses and bottlenecks in the supply chains for vaccine manufacture and vaccine production at an early stage in order to prevent problems and work together on possible solutions," said Altmaier, according to a letter to the CEOs of nine vaccine manufacturers, from which the newspapers of the "spark." Media group «quote.
Altmaier therefore asks the manufacturers to describe "the status of supply" with the vaccine and to point out any emerging bottlenecks.
Business criticizes planning security
1.01 a.m.:
After the decisions of the federal-state conference to extend the shutdown, the German economy criticizes the lack of planning security for the start-up of the companies.
"For a successful restart, we need reliable lead time in wholesale in order to be able to equip and supply our partners from the catering and hotel industry, but also large kitchens and canteens in good time and extensively," said Anton Börner, President of the Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade, Services (BGA ), the newspapers of the "Funke Mediengruppe".
The opening plans of the federal and state governments are too vague despite the agreement on an initial threshold value, and further specification is urgently needed here.
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