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Norbert Walter-Borjans: "We have a head of government who is missing a lot in the coordination of this crisis"
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Dehoga boss wants a "clear timetable" for opening restaurants and hotels
03.45 a.m.:
With a view to possible relaxation of the corona measures, the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) has called for a move away from the exclusive focus on incidence values.
There must be a balance between what is necessary in terms of health policy and what can still be expected of the economy, demanded Dehoga chief executive Ingrid Hartges in the »Tagesspiegel«.
Before the federal-state consultations on Wednesday, she called for a "clear timetable with which restaurants and hotels can reopen before Easter."
"Politicians now urgently need to do their homework and develop a concept from the three components of vaccination, rapid tests and the digital upgrade of the health authorities that allows openings and enables social life," Hartges told the newspaper.
The hospitality industry must be treated on an equal footing with other industries.
"We are always the first and we cannot be the last to be allowed to reopen," she said.
Doctors warn against uncoordinated loosening
02.50 a.m.:
Medical associations have warned against premature and uncoordinated loosening of the lockdown and called for an expansion of corona tests.
"It would be wrong to simply open some areas because people are tired of lockdown," said the chairwoman of the Federal Association of German Medical Officials, Ute Teichert, of the "Rheinische Post".
Openings should only be done in conjunction with a targeted testing and tracking strategy, she said.
"Under no circumstances should we roll out the red carpet for the virus."
It is now a matter of regaining control of the infection process.
“The virus is still faster than our measures at the moment, we're just reacting.
That needs to change."
Teichert therefore called for more tests in schools, in companies "and also at the hairdresser's".
In addition, much more must be tested for variants of the coronavirus in order to get a better overview of their spread.
The Marburger Bund argued similarly.
“The openings should be made slowly and gradually.
It is important to wait for the consequences before taking the next step, «said chairwoman Susanne Johna to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The risk of a third wave of infections with highly contagious virus variants does not only affect older patients, "also younger ones, especially those at risk."
"We're talking about a quarter of the population here," she said.
If the third wave hits them comparatively unchecked, the number of Covid 19 patients in intensive care units will inevitably rise again.
Colombia receives vaccination doses from Covax
02.20 a.m.:
Colombia was the first country in Latin America to receive vaccines from the international Covax initiative.
"Today marks a very important milestone," said Colombian President Iván Duque after the arrival of 117,000 doses of the vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá on Monday.
Overall, Colombia expects 20 million vaccine doses as part of the Covax initiative, Duque said in a video published on social networks.
The Covax initiative was founded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Gavi vaccine alliance to provide comparatively poorer countries with corona vaccines.
According to its own information, the initiative aims to deliver almost two billion cans this year.
Before Colombia, Ghana and the Ivory Coast had received corona vaccination doses from Covax.
In Colombia, a country with around 50 million inhabitants, around 2.3 million people have so far been infected with the corona virus.
Almost 60,000 patients died in connection with Covid-19.
France expands use of AstraZeneca vaccine
01:05 a.m.:
In the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, the French government is expanding the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine.
People in the age group from 65 to 75 years can now receive the vaccine from this manufacturer, for example if they suffer from diabetes or high blood pressure, as Health Minister Olivier Véran announced on Monday evening on the TV channel France 2.
Around 2.5 million French people are potentially affected by the expansion.
In France, the highest health authority had previously recommended that the vaccine from the British-Swedish group AstraZeneca should preferably be used in adults under 65 years of age.
France, with its around 67 million people, is badly affected by the Covid 19 pandemic; according to the authorities, over 86,000 people have already died.
Twitter wants to flag incorrect information about corona vaccinations
0.50 a.m.:
Twitter has announced stronger action against the spread of false information about corona vaccinations.
From now on, tweets that could contain misleading information on the topic would be marked accordingly, said the short message service on Monday with reference to the expansion of the distribution of vaccines against the corona virus.
In the early phase of the pandemic last year, Twitter first expanded its definition of "harmful" content and then announced tougher action against tweets with incorrect information about the corona virus.
Since the introduction of the new Corona directive, the company has said it has removed more than 8,400 tweets worldwide and taken measures against 11.5 million accounts.
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