Corona news on Tuesday: 5750 new infections, incidence drops slightly to 74.8

Enlarge image

Adolescent receives corona vaccination (symbol image)

Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa

Don't miss a thing: subscribe to our coronavirus newsletter for the latest developments and the most important background information.

Scientists in South Africa are busy with the new corona variant

04.21 a.m.:

Scientists in South Africa are currently working on a new corona variant with an unusually high mutation rate. The spread of the variant designated as C.1.2 has increased slightly in recent months, said the South African Institute for Infectious Diseases (NICD) on Monday. C.1.2 was therefore detected in all nine South African provinces. The variant has also been identified in China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Great Britain.

The NICD scientist Penny Moore emphasized that the prevalence of C.1.2 is still "very low".

Predictions as to whether the existing corona vaccines were also effective against this variant could therefore not yet be made.

However, she was "confident that the vaccines used in South Africa will continue to protect us against serious illness and death."

The SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach wrote on Twitter with a view to C.1.2 of a "potentially very dangerous" corona variant.

But whether it is more dangerous than the delta variant that is currently rampant around the world is still unclear.

The occurrence of C.1.2 shows: "We have to give Africa vaccine," wrote Lauterbach.

The end of the supply bottlenecks for bicycle manufacturers is not in sight

4:05 a.m.:

The bicycle industry in Germany must also expect delivery bottlenecks for the foreseeable future. The managing director of Bosch eBike Systems, Claus Fleischer, pointed this out before the Eurobike bicycle fair, which starts this Wednesday in Friedrichshafen. The Association of the German Bicycle Trade also complained about delivery problems. Some bikes could only be delivered months late.

Fischer told the dpa that because of the corona pandemic, there were major failures at suppliers from Asia.

»At the moment we are mainly seeing a shortage of mechanical components: frame, fork and brakes.

The bicycle manufacturers fight for every bike they can build because components are always missing. ”However, the electronic components on which Bosch relies are also scarce.

This is not only due to bottlenecks at the suppliers, but also to the increased demand.

Spahn

does not rule out inquiries about the vaccination status of employees

02:04 a.m.:

Federal

Minister of

Health Jens Spahn can imagine employers being allowed to ask employees about their corona vaccination status. He was torn between whether the law should be changed so that employers could ask for at least the next six months, said the CDU politician on Monday evening on the ARD program "Hart aber fair". That's how it is done in the restaurant. When asked what his attitude towards it was, Spahn said: "I'm tending towards yes more and more."

The President of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations, Rainer Dulger, said on Monday: "Companies and businesses now need a clear statement that they can inquire about the vaccination status of their employees in order to ensure the necessary measures to protect the health of all their employees."

Spahn again refused a vaccination requirement for certain occupational groups such as the nursing professions.

It is his concern that "a compulsory vaccination - also based on occupational groups - does not make it easier in the end that we all keep it, but that we will lose many along the way."

US video service

Zoom

weaker growth

- stock plunges

1:38 a.m.:

The growth of the US video service Zoom is weakening despite the global trend towards home offices.

In the second fiscal quarter to the end of July, sales climbed 54 percent to $ 1.02 billion, as the San Jose company announced on Monday evening.

Although it was the first time that Zoom cracked the billion mark within three months, it no longer reached the three-digit growth figures from the beginning of the corona crisis.

Profits rose to just under $ 317 million from nearly $ 186 million previously.

Initially, only the slower growth and the outlook were of interest on the stock market.

For the current quarter, Zoom is forecasting growth of around 30 percent.

The Zoom paper rushed on Wall Street after hours more than eight percent in depth.

For many people in the home office, Zoom has become synonymous with video conferencing, with which employees can exchange ideas and talk to customers, or students can network with teachers.

With the advancing vaccination campaigns, however, more and more employees and students are returning to offices and schools, which is why Zoom is increasingly active in the competitive corporate customer market.

Lauterbach calls for uniform hospitalization rates nationwide

1:19 a.m.:

The SPD health

politician

Karl Lauterbach calls for the same guide values ​​for all of Germany for hospital deliveries of corona patients.

He is in favor of »that we set nationwide uniform hospitalization rates.

Otherwise there is a risk of a patchwork quilt, «Lauterbach told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

At the moment, the value from which it could become critical is "very different from region to region."

There could therefore be considerable distortions.

EU no longer lists USA on exception list for

corona

entry restrictions

12:45 a.m.:

In view of the increasing number of corona infections in the USA, the EU has recommended that its member states reintroduce entry restrictions for US tourists.

As the Council of the European Union announced on Monday, the USA as well as Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro and North Macedonia have been removed from the list of countries that are to be exempted from the corona entry requirements into the EU.

It is up to the national governments of the EU states whether they implement the Brussels recommendation.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, most EU member states have implemented Brussels' recommendations on entry restrictions for travelers from third countries.

In June, the EU recommended that its member states ease entry restrictions for US tourists.

Since then, the coronavirus has been spreading more rapidly in the USA.

Around 150,000 new infections with the coronavirus are currently reported in the country every day.

The so-called seven-day incidence per 100,000 population is 310 nationwide, according to the US health department.

Mexican

students return to classrooms after a year of distance learning

12:01 a.m.:

After more than a year of distance learning, millions of high school students in Mexico have returned to their classrooms.

"I'm nervous and excited," said eight-year-old Anna Alvarez, one of around 25 million students who had her first day of school on Monday.

While the government argues that opening schools is "voluntary and safe", many parents in Mexico fear for the health of their children.

Mexico is one of the countries in the world hardest hit by the pandemic.

According to official figures, more than 258,000 people have died in connection with Covid-19 in the country.

The country with a population of 126 million is currently experiencing a third wave of infections.

jok / AFP / dpa / Reuters