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Sign indicating that a mask is compulsory in a Potsdamer Strasse
Photo: Martin Müller / imago images / Martin Müller
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Teachers' association for long-term mask requirements in schools
7.30 a.m.:
The German Teachers' Association demands that masks should be worn in schools for a long time to protect against corona.
In the first months of the new school year there must be a comprehensive mask requirement and regular tests by students, said association president Heinz-Peter Meidinger.
He justified this with the fact that younger children have not yet been vaccinated and only a part of the larger ones.
"Limiting the requirement to wear a mask and testing to the first two weeks of school, as provided in some federal states, falls short in our opinion," criticized Meidinger.
It is not only about controlling the introduction of infections by returnees, but also generally about containing the fourth wave, which should not peak until autumn.
School has already started again in Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg.
The summer holidays will also end next Tuesday in the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 2.5 million students.
Several countries had announced before the holidays that they would again require masks to be worn in schools at least in the first two weeks as a safety measure because of the returnee.
Meidinger also called for “a comprehensive installation of room air filter systems in all classrooms”.
There are still a number of federal states without their own funding programs, he criticized.
Many school authorities and municipalities were reluctant to procure such systems.
Canada wants corona vaccination for federal agency employees
7:24 a.m
.: In view of increasing corona infections with the highly contagious Delta variant, the Canadian government has announced that all employees of the federal authorities will be vaccinated.
"We know that vaccines are the best way to end this pandemic," said the Minister of Government Coordination, Dominic LeBlanc, in Ottawa.
The government therefore expects the state employees to adhere to "this mandatory requirement" for a corona vaccination.
The date of the entry into force of the mandatory vaccination for the approximately 300,000 employees of the federal authorities is to be announced in the coming weeks.
In the transport sector, it should apply from October at the latest.
The compulsory vaccination should also apply to state-owned companies such as the post office.
LeBlanc did not provide any information on possible penalties for unvaccinated state employees.
The Canadian Ministry of Health announced a corona vaccination obligation for employees in the state health sector on Thursday.
In Canada, 71 percent of the 38 million residents received at least one corona vaccine dose by Friday.
Almost 62 percent have already been fully vaccinated.
From September 7th, travelers vaccinated against Corona should be allowed to re-enter after the national borders were closed for a year and a half due to the pandemic.
AFP / dpa / Reuters