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A vaccination center in downtown Munich
Photo: www.AlexanderPohl.photography / / imago images / aal.photo
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NRW Prime Minister Wüst against compulsory corona vaccination
8.34 a.m.:
Despite the
skyrocketing
corona numbers, North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) has spoken out against compulsory vaccination. Several thousand people had their first vaccinations every day. This shows that arguments in favor of the vaccination were still working, said Wüst on Thursday on the radio station WDR5. He does not share the view that every person who has not yet been vaccinated is a "massive refusal to vaccinate." He didn't want to scare this group "by giving them a compulsory vaccination," said Wüst. "Shall we force people to vaccinate with the police?"
The CDU politician is also skeptical about compulsory vaccinations for certain professional groups such as nursing staff.
Nursing staff are "weighed in gold," said Wüst with a view to the shortage of skilled workers.
Nursing staff who do not want to be vaccinated may also be deployed in other areas.
Many workers would have already reduced hours in view of the workload.
"If we drive people out with a compulsory vaccination, I don't know whether we are serving the cause," said Wüst.
"I bet on conviction."
Mützenich calls the increase in corona infections depressing
7.51 a.m.:
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich also wants to include the previous coalition partner Union in the deliberations on the Infection
Protection Act
.
He offered good and fair advice to the future opposition faction according to the state of affairs, says Mützenich, shortly before the new Bundestag first discussed the draft of new regulations presented by the SPD, Greens and FDP for the containment of the corona pandemic.
Mützenich speaks of "depressing numbers" in view of the steep rise in the number of infections.
The parliamentary group leader announced that the draft law would be refined in the course of parliamentary deliberations with a 3G rule in the workplace and monitoring for booster vaccinations.
SPD parliamentary group vice against new conference of prime ministers
7.50 a.m.:
Despite the new high in the number of infections, SPD parliamentary group vice-president Dirk Wiese still believes that the top federal-state round on the corona situation demanded by Chancellor Angela Merkel is not necessary.
In the ARD, Wiese says that there was a health ministerial conference only last week and that the prime ministers would meet for a special meeting at the end of next week.
In addition, the previous Prime Minister's Conferences were not always well prepared by the Chancellery and did not always lead to "more security."
Bundestag advises traffic light plans against Corona
6.00 a.m.:
This Thursday, the Bundestag is discussing the plans of the SPD, Greens and FDP in view of the sometimes drastic increase in corona numbers in Germany.
After weeks of public restraint, the incumbent Vice Chancellor and SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz also wants to speak.
Survey: Confidence in doctors stable in pandemic, loss for politicians
5.26 a.m.:
According to a survey, trust in doctors, medical staff and scientists in Germany has remained stable over the course of the corona pandemic. However, starting from a lower level, trust in politicians has fallen significantly. This is the result of Thursday's Science Barometer 2021 by the Science in Dialogue Initiative. To this end, the Kantar Institute surveyed around 1,000 German-speaking people aged 14 and over in September. The results are reported to be representative.
79 percent of those surveyed stated that they trusted doctors and medical staff more or less when it came to Corona, while the figure for scientists was 73 percent. This is as much as in previous editions of the study. Trust in politicians has declined most noticeably since April 2020: from 44 percent at the time to 18 percent now. There was also a marked decline in trust in representatives of authorities and offices.
A majority of those questioned would like scientists to play a role in the pandemic that goes beyond the mere conveyance of information to politicians.
Half of them agreed that scientists should recommend certain decisions to politicians based on scientific evidence.
Another 31 percent believed that scientists should explain possible choices and their consequences, but not make recommendations to politicians.
Medical Association: compulsory testing, if necessary, also for vaccinated and convalescent people
5.25
a.m
.:
The Marburger Bund Doctors' Association believes that testing is also necessary for vaccinated and convalescent people if the corona situation does not improve due to current 2G rules for vaccinated and convalescent people. »2G must now become standard. If this does not slow down the infection process and the vaccination rate does not increase, 2G-Plus is the next logical step, "said the chairwoman of the association, Susanne Johna, of the editorial network in Germany. "2G-Plus undoubtedly offers even greater security," said Johna.
With a view to the increasingly tense situation in intensive care units caused by corona patients, the head of the association warned: "The only thing that can be done now is to prevent further overload scenarios." The German Hospital Association also warned of an overload in the intensive care units.
"We are in a very critical phase of the pandemic," said CEO Gerald Gass of the RND.
The value of 4,000 intensive care beds occupied by Covid 19 patients can practically no longer be avoided.
"The result is that clinics now have to postpone the operations that can be planned immediately."
The intensive care units in more and more federal states were reaching their limits.
More than two thirds of Germans for corona vaccination
4.30 a.m .: 4.30 a.m.:
A large majority of Germans are in favor of compulsory corona vaccination, at least for certain professional groups. In a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency, 44 percent even spoke out in favor of obliging all people in Germany to immunize against the dangerous virus. Another 24 percent want to limit the obligation to individual professional groups such as nursing staff or hospital staff. Only 27 percent are generally against compulsory vaccination.
The mood has changed since the start of the corona vaccinations in Germany almost a year ago.
A few days after the first vaccination on December 26th last year, 56 percent of people in a YouGov poll were against compulsory vaccination and 33 percent were in favor.
The attitude towards vaccinations for certain groups of people was not asked at the time.
Among the voters of the CDU / CSU (56 percent), SPD (54 percent) and FDP (52), the desire for mandatory vaccination for everyone is particularly strong.
With supporters of the left (46 percent), Greens (44 percent) and AfD (31 percent) as well as non-voters (32 percent), however, the idea does not find a majority.
The current federal government of the Union and the SPD rejects compulsory vaccination.
The traffic light parties, which are currently negotiating the formation of a new government, are also against such a step.
In other European countries, however, there is already compulsory corona vaccination for certain groups of people.
More child sickness benefits for parents because of Corona
4.15 a.m.:
Corona-related daycare and school failure has led to a significant increase in children's sickness benefits this year.
This is the result of a survey by the Barmer health insurance company, which is available to the German Press Agency in Berlin.
This Thursday, the SPD, Greens and FDP want to extend the expansion of children's sickness benefits because of the ongoing pandemic.
According to the health insurance company’s evaluation, Barmer approved almost 892,000 days of child sickness allowance with a value of 56.7 million euros by September.
This includes care during the pandemic and days on which a child is sick.
In the entire previous year there were only 566,000 days.
In 2019, the days of child sickness benefit totaled around 698,000.
Barmer boss Christoph Straub spoke of a “real relief for parents” through the children's sickness benefit.
Since June, Barmer has seen a sharp decline in the number of pandemic-related child sickness benefits.
The reason for this is that the schools and daycare centers were no longer closed nationwide.
RKI registers the highest level of new corona infections
4.01 a.m.:
The number of new corona infections has risen sharply and exceeded 50,000 for the first time in the corona pandemic. The health authorities in Germany reported the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) the maximum value of 50,196 new corona infections within one day. This is evident from the latest figures from the RKI. The day before there were 39,676 infections and exactly one week ago the value was 33,949 infections. The value on Wednesday was already a high.
The nationwide seven-day incidence also reached a peak again.
The RKI gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Thursday morning at 249.1.
It has thus risen to a high for the fourth day in a row.
On Wednesday the value was 232.1.
For comparison: a week ago the incidence was 154.5 (previous month: 66.5).
According to the new information, 235 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours.
A week ago there were 165 deaths.
The RKI has counted 4,894,250 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections are not detected.
Before the DFB-Elf game: intensive care physician criticized full stadium
3.00 a.m.:
Before the international match of the German national soccer team against Liechtenstein on Thursday, intensive care physician Uwe Janssens criticized the lack of corona measures in the Wolfsburg Volkswagen Arena. "I cannot understand that there are exceptions in football and that fans stand close together, singing loudly and partying, releasing aerosols and possibly infecting others," Janssens said in an interview with the editorial network Germany.
26,000 fans are expected to come to the World Cup qualifier on Thursday evening.
Such a football game without the necessary distance is "extremely questionable from a medical point of view in view of the current situation," said Janssens, who is also Secretary General of the German Society for Internal Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine (DGIIN).
He stressed that the hygiene measures are still extremely important.
This also includes the distance rule, said Janssens with a view to full football stadiums.
Digital vaccination records will be five times as expensive as planned
2.24
a.m.: According to a media report, Health Minister Jens Spahn has to pay almost 15.4 million euros for the CovPass digital vaccination certificate and the associated cloud services.
That is more than five times as much as announced when the order was placed with the companies IBM, Bechtle, Ubirch and GovDigital last March, reports the newspaper “Wirtschaftswoche” with reference to documents from the European tendering platform TED.
The originally planned investment volume was around 2.7 million euros.
According to the report, higher development costs, a delay in European specifications, the linking of the app with programs from medical practices, the integration of a recovered certificate and the operation of a call center for citizen inquiries are driving up costs.
Gastro association for stricter controls
2.00 a.m.:
In view of the increasing number of infections, the President of the German District Association (DLT), Reinhard Sager, appeals to the catering and event industry to control the applicable rules more strictly.
»The worry of losing potential customers should be significantly less than worrying about the consequences that threaten if only a small part of these control obligations are still fully complied with.
Because then there is a threat of further restrictions, including fines and, in the end, possibly a partial lockdown, "says Sager of the newspaper" Rheinische Post ".
The state cannot guarantee comprehensive control of all corona rules in the various private areas.
Lauterbach for drastic penalties for violations of the 2G regulation
1.45 a.m.:
The SPD health
politician
Karl Lauterbach considers a 2G regulation to be the only effective measure against the corona pandemic and has spoken out in favor of drastic penalties for violations.
The decisive factor are very strict controls, said Lauterbach on Wednesday in the ARD program "Maischberger".
If, for example, a restaurant does not control 2G and thus attracts attention, "it will lead to six weeks of closure," said Lauterbach.
"Without the courage to introduce 2G across the board, drastically and with strict controls, we will not be able to get this wave under control," warned the SPD politician.
Hospital Society: Immediately postpone predictable operations now
0.09 a.m.:
From the point of view of the German Hospital Association, overloading the intensive care units due to the sharp rise in new corona infections can no longer be averted. "The value of 4,000 occupied Covid intensive care beds can practically no longer be avoided," said CEO Gerald Gaß of the editorial network in Germany. The consequence is that clinics "now have to postpone the predictable operations immediately".
In more and more federal states, the intensive care units were reaching their limits.
For "all" hospitals, this means "that they have to limit their services regardless of the number of Covid patients in their own house in order to be able to step in for overburdened clinics."
Germany is "in a very critical phase of the pandemic".
For the hospital staff, the coming weeks and "probably months" would be another enormous effort.
mrc / dpa / AFP / Reuters / AP