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Nurse with corona patient in intensive care unit in Berlin (archive photo)
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Economists: End of lockdown does not mean quick recovery
5 a.m.:
According to economists, an end to the corona lockdown will not automatically help the economy to the long-awaited rapid upswing - as long as the virus is not under control.
Comparative studies in Scandinavia and the USA show that economies in countries and regions without strict lockdowns crashed in the first phase of the epidemic as well as in states with strict restrictions.
"Since the virus creates uncertainty, many companies do not invest," said Clemens Fuest, President of the Munich Ifo Institute.
"When a dangerous virus is rampant, most people don't go to the cinema, restaurant or concert, whether they are allowed to or not."
In a study, Ifo scientists examined developments in Sweden, which had long wanted to forego a lockdown.
"Without a lockdown, the economic slump comes a little later and is not quite as deep," said Fuest.
"But you pay for that with later higher numbers of infections and correspondingly higher health and economic damage, which are not counted."
In the US, the economists Austan Goolsbee and Chad Syverson have examined the economic impact on retail in several US counties with and without lockdowns.
Result: »While the total customer traffic decreased by 60 percent, the legal restrictions explain only 7 percent of this decrease.
Individual decisions (the buyers) were much more important and seem to be related to the fear of infection, «write the two scientists.
Police union criticizes lack of equipment for border control
04.36 a.m.:
The police union (GdP) criticized the equipment of the federal police before the start of stationary border controls this weekend.
"The technical equipment of the Federal Police leaves a lot to be desired," said the GdP district chairman for the Federal Police, Andreas Roßkopf, of the "Rheinische Post".
There is a lack of container offices, toilet vehicles and large tents to carry out the controls.
In order for the units to be able to do their work when there are two-digit degrees below zero, they need support from the technical relief organization, said Roßkopf the newspaper.
"I call on the federal government and the states to quickly provide the necessary help."
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Controls when leaving Tyrol on the border with Germany near Kufstein
Photo: Liebl Daniel, newspaper photo At / dpa
The border controls would place considerable additional burdens on the federal police.
There is also the risk that “people familiar with the area will bypass the controls on field and forest paths”.
To prevent this, more strength is needed.
Roßkopf estimated that "several hundreds of riot police" were necessary.
As of Sunday, Germany will tighten the rules for entry from several EU countries, including Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, due to the spread of new virus variants.
From Sunday there should be stationary border controls.
Melbourne begins third corona lockdown - Australian Open without spectators
04.14 a.m.:
Australia's second largest city, Melbourne, will enter a five-day lockdown from Saturday.
The whole state of Victoria is affected by this measure.
This is to prevent a third corona wave that could arise from the entry of a citizen with the highly infectious British variant.
"A lot of people will suffer today," Victoria Prime Minister Daniel Andrews announced at a press conference.
"This is not the situation we wanted to be in, but I don't want to look back in two weeks and wish we had made these decisions by now."
The world-famous tennis tournament “Australian Open”, which is currently taking place in the metropolis of Melbourne, is only partially affected by the lockdown.
Now, however, without spectators, who will probably only get access again on Thursday.
Otherwise, all restaurants and shops, with the exception of supermarkets, are closed.
People are instructed to stay at home.
You are only allowed to be outside for essential purchases and two hours of exercise.
Juso chairman: Countries should forego the central high school diploma
04.07 a.m.:
Due to the
cancellation
of lessons in the corona pandemic, the
Juso boss Jessica Rosenthal
asked the federal states to forego the central
high school diploma
and instead leave the examination tasks to the schools.
"The central high school diploma has to be suspended for one to two years," said the chairwoman of the SPD youth organization of the "Augsburger Allgemeine".
Due to the different situation on site, the schools would have managed different amounts of learning material.
One could not complain about the state of emergency of the pandemic "and at the same time say that the students should kindly write the same Abitur as in previous years," said Rosenthal.
That is unjust.
You trust the teachers to continue to receive a certain comparability of the exams.
"We can do it with oral exams too."
British Corona variant in more than every fourth sample in Denmark
4 a.m.:
The variant of the corona virus, which initially appeared in England, is now found in more than every fourth corona sample analyzed in Denmark.
This is based on preliminary figures from the Danish health institute SSI.
According to this, variant B.1.1.7 was detected in 28.5 percent of the samples sequenced up to Friday from the first week of February.
For comparison: in the week before, the share was still provisionally 20.3 percent, at the turn of the year it was only 2.1 percent.
The numbers are constantly updated and can therefore still change.
For the first time, the British virus variant was detected in Denmark in random samples on November 14th.
According to SSI, there is consensus that the mutant is more contagious than other types of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus.
The concern about variants like this is also the main reason why strict lockdown measures continue to apply to Germany's northernmost neighbors despite declining corona numbers.
So far, B.1.1.7 has been detected in 1,859 people in Denmark.
It was discovered in 5.4 percent of the samples sequenced so far.
The SSI estimates that B.1.1.7 will probably be the dominant virus variant in the course of February.
Fashion trade expects discounts of up to 90 percent after opening
2 a.m.: In the German fashion trade, consumers can look forward to strong discounts after the corona-related closure of shops.
"For many goods there will be 80 to 90 percent discounts so that the pent-up goods can still be sold," said the general manager of the Federal Association of Textile Retailers (BTE), Rolf Pangels, of the "Rheinische Post".
The sale of the spring goods will probably also be associated with high discounts.
"That burdens us all year," said Pangels.
If the lockdown is extended further, even more deals are at the end.
"If there is an extension, we will pack unsold goods in large trucks and dump the contents in front of the Chancellery," announced Pangels.
"Not only the dairy farmers can protest."
Moderna wants to fill 50 percent more vaccine per ampoule
1:26 a.m.:
The US company Moderna wants to fill 50 percent more vaccine against the coronavirus per ampoule in the future and thus accelerate delivery.
Approval for this adaptation is being applied for from authorities worldwide, according to a statement from the company on Friday.
The New York Times had previously reported that the US FDA had already approved a 40 percent increase in the amount filled per ampoule.
With the increase of 50 percent, 15 instead of the previous ten vaccine doses could be delivered per ampoule, the company told the AFP news agency.
The same ampoules as before could be used for the increase.
The changeover could take place in the next two to three months.
Amazon offers employees bonuses if they get vaccinated
00:54:
The online retailer Amazon wants to encourage its US employees to get a corona vaccination with bonuses.
They would get $ 40 per dose, the company announced on Friday.
"As Covid-19 vaccines are becoming available for employees on the front lines, we ask our employees to get vaccinated at the earliest possible point in time to protect themselves, their families and communities," Amazon explained the procedure.
Vaccination should also be offered at many Amazon locations.
Other US companies are also asking their employees to get vaccinated.
These include the Starbucks coffee house chain, the consumer goods manufacturer Unilever and supermarket chains such as Aldi and Lidl.
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oka / AFP / dpa