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Test center in Saarland
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Dispute between Söder and Scholz at federal-state meetings
5.15 a.m.:
Shortly before the end of the deliberations of the federal and state governments on the further corona strategy, Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder clashed violently.
According to reports, the trigger was the financing of a hardship fund in equal parts by the federal and state governments.
Shortly after the end of the conference, the CSU boss said again when asked: "I don't want to say we are one heart and one soul, but now everything is fine again."
According to participants, the SPD candidate for Chancellor had initially declared to all Prime Ministers: "Nobody needs to dream that the federal government will set up an account from which everything will be paid." Countries.
Thereupon Söder - as it is presented by several participants - attacked Scholz harshly: "You are not the King of Germany or the ruler of the world."
When asked, Söder said that one shouldn't put every word that has been handed down on the "gold scales", that he appreciates Scholz "in principle," and that people get along well in the grand coalition too.
Nevertheless, there are sometimes different points of view, and Scholz has "a very pointed manner."
The hardship fund goes back to Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU).
The fund is intended to help companies that do not exactly meet the previous auxiliary criteria or where special conditions in certain industries are not recorded.
Despite the dispute, the fund was also decided by the Prime Minister's Conference, but further details are to be clarified on Monday.
Berlin's Prime Minister Müller: It was not a futile fight
4:50 a.m.: Berlin's Prime Minister Michael Müller (SPD) has defended the corona measures to combat the pandemic.
"We expected a lot from many people in the past year, even with the restrictions," said the Governing Mayor and chairman of the Prime Minister's Conference (MPK) after the federal-state consultations in Berlin.
"But I never tire of saying that it was important and right that we did this because vaccination and testing were not available as they are now and we have saved thousands of lives with them." He wanted to emphasize it again and again : "That was not a futile fight that we fought."
Countries want to open schools depending on the infection situation
04.15 a.m.:
The federal states will probably not proceed uniformly with the planned further school openings.
It was found that the federal states could gradually plan a further return to face-to-face teaching on their own responsibility, said the chairman of the Prime Minister's Conference, Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD), after the federal-state round on Corona in Berlin.
"We will then see when the next grades are also possible." The federal states would decide this based on their respective incidence situation.
The education ministers had already decided beforehand that the alternating or face-to-face lessons that had begun at primary schools should be expanded and intensified to include other years.
Laschet sees a paradigm shift in fighting pandemics
3.40 a.m.:
North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) sees a change of perspective in the fight against the corona pandemic.
The strategy is now: Away from permanent closure to controlled security, he said early Thursday morning after the federal-state consultations on the corona crisis.
During their deliberations on the corona measures, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the state heads of government agreed in a video conference to extend the lockdown to March 28.
However, depending on the infection, there should be many opening options.
A step-by-step opening strategy with a built-in emergency brake was agreed: If individual loosening leads to a sharp increase in the number of infections in a region, all the alleviations that have already been made are automatically canceled.
The Association of Towns and Municipalities criticizes the test strategy as being too vague
3.30 a.m.:
German Association of Towns and Municipalities criticizes the test strategy that has been decided.
"The resolutions on test strategies in relation to quick and self-tests are too vague," says the chief executive of the German Association of Cities and Towns, Gerd Landsberg, of the newspaper "Rheinische Post".
“It is true that there should be nationwide rapid tests for what is right and good.
However, it is regrettable that it will apparently take a few more weeks before sufficient numbers of these instruments will be available across the board, ”he said.
The organization lies with the states and municipalities.
"How the self-tests should fit into the system, how the evidence is documented, how long it should allow certain accesses, has unfortunately not yet been answered."
General practitioner association head Weigeldt fears "bureaucratic overkill"
02.55 a.m.:
After the federal-state agreement on a stronger involvement of resident doctors in the corona vaccinations, the family doctors are calling for bureaucratic relief.
In order to be able to cope with the vaccinations as well as the additional tests in addition to the care of the patients, any avoidable effort must be eliminated, says the federal chairman of the German Association of General Practitioners, Ulrich Weigeldt, the newspapers of the Funke media group.
He warns that the certificates that the general practitioners are supposed to issue for patients as part of the vaccination prioritization slow down the process enormously and "quickly become bureaucratic overkill."
Instead, the health insurance companies could provide support in the priority check "through a nationwide invitation procedure".
Paraguay's healthcare system is on the verge of collapse
02.20 a.m.:
Around a year after the start of the corona pandemic in South America, the health system in Paraguay is
reaching
its limits.
In the country's public hospitals, all beds in the intensive care units are now occupied with Covid 19 patients, reported the newspaper »ABC Color« on Wednesday.
“The hospitals are collapsing, the emergency rooms are collapsing, the drug supply is collapsing.
Everything's collapsing, ”said the chairwoman of the medical association, Gloria Meza.
She called for a tough two-week lockdown to get the situation back under control.
Because of the lack of materials and medicines, various nurses' unions announced protests for the coming days.
The government then agreed on Wednesday to buy drugs for Covid-19 patients on a large scale.
So far, a good 160,000 people have been proven to have been infected with the corona virus in the South American country.
According to the Ministry of Health, over 3,200 patients have died in connection with the Covid-19 disease.
Paraguay is about the same size as Germany and Switzerland combined, but only has a good seven million inhabitants.
Health care is often poorly developed, especially in rural areas.
Bartsch calls summit resolutions "Corona maze"
1:40 a.m.:
Left
parliamentary
group leader Dietmar Bartsch has sharply criticized the results of the top-level talks between the federal and state governments.
In the newspapers of the Funke media group, Bartsch then spoke of a “corona maze” and “incidence and relaxation confusion” with a view to the complicated opening schedule.
This would "further unsettle the citizens".
On the other hand, "the key issue of rapid vaccination" played too little role, said Bartsch.
"We need a national vaccination effort to get out of the lockdown permanently," he pointed out.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) must make this a top priority so that "over six million vaccine doses are not lying around by Easter."
FDP leader Christian Lindner also expressed dissatisfaction with the resolutions.
"Apparently the lockdown remains the only conceivable recipe for the federal government," he also told the Funke media group.
»More social and economic life would be possible with innovative concepts.« Lindner criticized the agreed offer of one quick test per week for everyone as »too little«.
Seven positive corona tests in the NBA
1:25 a.m.:
In the last complete test period with games before the all-star break, there were seven positive corona tests among basketball players in the NBA.
The league announced on Wednesday.
Test results since February 24th have been taken into account.
On Sunday, the stars of the league meet for a show competition in Atlanta, spectators are not allowed due to the corona pandemic.
The usual program with the slam dunk contest and other competitions is also condensed and takes place on the same day.
The uninvolved basketball players have time off and can go on vacation.
There is therefore concern about a higher number of positive test results after returning to the teams.
Craftsmen and the travel industry criticize easing as insufficient
01.05 a.m.:
The trade and the travel industry have criticized the easing decided at the Corona summit as insufficient.
"For many of our businesses affected by closings, the resolutions will not bring the hoped-for opening option in the near future," said Hans Peter Wollseifer, President of the Central Association of German Crafts.
In order to prevent business deaths on a broad front, economic life must be made possible again as quickly as possible, wherever this is epidemiologically justifiable.
The craftsman president said that there would have been a lot more possible at the Corona summit "than to present an opening schedule with the handbrake on".
The German Travel Association (DRV) was also disappointed.
DRV President Norbert Fiebig told the newspapers of the Funke media group that it was "unacceptable that we are being forced to remain in lockdown due to the lack of tests and the far too slow vaccination process".
Fiebig called on politicians to end their appeals to not travel.
In particular, the quarantine when returning to Germany deter vacationers.
"Here we absolutely need ways to circumvent an impending quarantine with a negative corona test result - more tests definitely help here," said Fiebig.
Bouffier: "Have to continue to be careful"
01:05 a.m
.:
After the federal-state consultations on the corona crisis, Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) urged caution in view of the loosening that had been decided.
"We must continue to be careful so as not to jeopardize what has been achieved," Bouffier said.
The Prime Minister welcomed the resolutions passed.
"What we on the part of the states and the federal government have agreed on is a compromise," he said.
The Hessian Corona cabinet will discuss the resolutions on Thursday.
Belgium allows AstraZeneca vaccine to be given to the elderly
0.55 a.m.: In the
future, Belgium also wants to vaccinate older people with the vaccine from the AstraZeneca company.
As Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke announced, the authorities should be able to begin "immediately" to administer the vaccine to people over 55 years of age.
A month ago, the country decided to initially only immunize younger people with the vaccine because there was a lack of data on its effectiveness in the elderly.
Recent studies from Great Britain and Israel have shown that the AstraZeneca vaccine also offers "good protection against the disease" for over 55-year-olds, according to a statement following a meeting of the regional health ministers and the state government.
To date, 5.7 percent of the adult population in Belgium have received a first dose of vaccine and 3.5 percent a second.
The Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called on Wednesday for a "faster EU response" to the pandemic, especially with regard to the distribution and administration of vaccines.
Draghi and the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) had previously called.
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