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Corona intensive care unit (in Dresden)
Photo: Robert Michael / dpa
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Montgomery expects double the corona incidence within ten days
04.31 a.m.:
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, expects the corona incidence to double within the next ten days.
"In St. Nicholas week we could have incidences between 700 and 800," the doctor told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
All measures to combat the corona pandemic that would still be taken - even contact restrictions or lockdowns - would only begin to take effect with a delay of two weeks.
"There is nothing we can do about the fact that on the day Olaf Scholz is elected as Chancellor the numbers will be dramatically high," said Montgomery.
The chairman of the World Medical Association called for a strict reduction in contacts and for the Christmas markets to be closed nationwide in order to lower the infection curve again.
Lauterbach assumes further corona restrictions
04:04 a.m.:
The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach assumes further restrictions in view of the fourth corona wave and the appearance of a possibly particularly dangerous new virus variant.
"In fact, the infection is more aggressive than expected," he said in the ARD Tagesthemen on Friday evening.
The measures would have worked, contacts decreased somewhat.
"But it is not yet where it should be, and it will definitely be necessary for us to re-sharpen it, I assume that too."
Lauterbach went on to say: "What causes major problems in particular is that the 2G and 2G-plus controls are not carried out adequately at all." In addition, there are still too many major events. "And it is precisely these big events and also the full bars, the full shops that cause us problems."
Lauterbach is very concerned that the potentially dangerous variant B.1.1.529 that has emerged in southern Africa could also reach Germany.
If that happened, we'd have a huge problem.
"Because there is nothing worse than getting a particularly dangerous variant into a running wave." The variant seems to be dangerous for vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
"That's why we have to work with travel restrictions here, every day that can be won before this variant comes up really counts here."
Medium-sized businesses: politics must prevent corona lockdown
4:00 a.m.:
The Federal Association of Medium-Sized Enterprises has asked politicians to absolutely prevent an impending corona lockdown. Federal Managing Director Markus Jerger told the German Press Agency: "If companies and retailers had to forcibly close again during the all-important Christmas business, we would have an economic meltdown: Entire sectors would be affected and a large number of medium-sized companies would not survive a renewed lockdown economically."
For the companies it follows that the 3G rule must be strictly controlled or 2G must be introduced - that would mean: Access to companies only for those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered.
"In plain language: employees unwilling to vaccinate, with the exception of medical exceptions, must then feel the consequences of their actions in the pay packet," says Jerger.
"Overloaded hospitals and postponed operations cost lives, and the virus does not take personal sensitivities into account."
WTO postpones ministerial conference due to Corona variant Omikron
02.35 a.m.:
In view of the spread of the new Coronavirus variant Omikron, the World Trade Organization (WTO) postponed its first major ministerial
conference in
four years at short notice.
"This recommendation was not easy," said WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Geneva on Friday.
"But as General Manager, the health and safety of all participants is my priority."
The travel restrictions have made it impossible for many ministers to come to Geneva, said Okonjo-Iweala.
Equal participation in the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference would therefore not have been possible.
The decision to postpone the four-day conference was supported by all 164 WTO member states.
According to the chairman of the WTO General Council, Dacio Castillo, the conference will be rescheduled "as soon as the conditions allow."
Merz does not rule out his consent to the general compulsory vaccination
02.02 a.m.:
The candidate for the CDU chairmanship, Friedrich Merz, has not ruled out a general compulsory vaccination in view of the dramatic corona situation. "If today's measures are not enough, then I cannot rule out my consent to a general compulsory vaccination," he told the Rheinische Post. »The fact that someone does not want to be vaccinated is fundamentally part of our liberal system. But in the current situation this attitude is becoming more and more a burden on the freedom of those who are vaccinated. "
Therefore, he is initially in favor of a consistent application of the 2G rules (access for vaccinated and convalescent people) wherever possible.
He hoped that a general lockdown could be avoided.
“What would that mean?
Should companies, hotels, restaurants, schools, universities and sports fields close again for months?
Nobody can seriously want that, ”he said.
Families in particular, and especially children and young people, would have suffered enough from the lockdowns.
"And even for many small and medium-sized companies, a further closure is simply not reasonable."
World Medical Association boss calls for a nationwide ban on Christmas markets
1:45 a.m.:
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, calls for a strict reduction in contacts in order to lower the infection
curve
again. “We should therefore close the Christmas markets nationwide. There is no point in banning the Christmas markets in one region if people then drive to another where they are still open, "says Montgomery to the newspapers of the Funke media group, according to a preliminary report.
Countries and municipalities should also ban larger celebrations, fireworks and private gluttony across the board on New Year's Eve.
"This not only prevents infections, but also relieves the emergency clinics," says the head of the World Medical Association.
If the incidences cannot be brought under control, the federal states will have to be able to close operations again across the board or impose curfews.
Dozens of coronavirus cases on flights from South Africa
1 a.m.:
The Dutch health authorities say that dozens of people who arrived in Amsterdam on Friday evening on two flights from South Africa are likely infected with the coronavirus. Now all passengers will be tested to find out whether they may have already been infected with the recently discovered Omikon variant. "We will examine the positive test results as quickly as possible to see whether it is the new variant," said the health authorities. Around 600 passengers arrived at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on two KLM flights. The Dutch government had already banned all air travel from southern Africa on Friday morning. Travelers who were already on their way were tested on arrival and then placed in quarantine.
Federal government has no information on the vaccination quota in nursing professions
12:14 p.m.:
According to information from the editorial network Germany (RND), the Federal
Ministry of
Health has no information about how high the vaccination rate is in medical professions.
"Information on vaccination rates for nursing and medical professions is only available to the Robert Koch Institute on the basis of individual random studies," the RND newspapers quoted from a response from the ministry to a request from FDP member of the Bundestag Konstantin Kuhle.
Data on the professional background of vaccinated people are regularly »not recorded« in the RKI's digital vaccination rate monitoring.
Kuhle told the RND that in view of the dramatic pandemic situation, the debate about vaccination requirements for certain population groups must be open.
"However, you cannot simply make a vaccination mandatory without being clear about the exact design or the data basis," said Kuhle.
The examination of whether a vaccination requirement is constitutional can only be carried out on the basis of a specific proposal.
Kretschmer criticizes 3G rule - for lack of rapid tests
00:10:
Due to the lack of rapid
tests
, Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has questioned the effectiveness of the so-called 3G rule.
"It is a serious misjudgment that daily testing for the unvaccinated is so easy for the 3G rule at work and in local public transport," said Kretschmer to the editorial network Germany (RND) according to a preliminary report.
In Saxony, for this reason, large parts of public life were shut down again at an early stage and relied on the 2G rule.
"We are already reaching the limits with the capacities of the rapid tests and the prices are rising rapidly," said the Saxon Prime Minister.
Lauterbach calls for stricter corona rules after the appearance of the Omikron variant
00:01 a.m.:
The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach has called for further restrictions in view of the current corona situation and the occurrence of a possibly even more dangerous variant of the virus.
The infection process was "more aggressive than expected," said Lauterbach on Friday evening in an interview with the ARD Tagesthemen.
"It's the big events, the full bars, the full shops that cause us problems."
Politicians may now have to readjust again, Lauterbach said.
Particularly problematic is "that the controls of 2G and 2G + do not take place adequately at all".
"Nothing is worse than getting a particularly severe variant into a running wave," said Lauterbach about the newly emerged Corona variant Omikron, which was initially found in South Africa.
The new pathogen seems to be "dangerous for the vaccinated as well as for the unvaccinated".
He is nevertheless confident that "the booster vaccinations also protect against this variant."
AFP / AP / dpa / Reuters / sid