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"ImpfKulTour" campaign in Brandenburg
Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa
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USA reports over 25,500 new infections and 189 deaths
06:20
: In the US, health officials reported at least 25,534 new infections within 24 hours.
That gives a Reuters count based on official data.
The number of proven cases of infection rises to more than 48.29 million.
At least 189 other people died with or from the virus.
There are now a total of 781,797 deaths.
The USA has the highest number of infections and deaths in the world.
South Africa's doctors: Omikron patients are not yet in mortal danger
5.13 a.m.:
The people in South Africa who have so far been infected with the new Coronavirus variant Omikron have not yet been seriously ill, according to the local Medical Association (SAMA).
South African Medical Association chairwoman Angélique Coetzee told the BBC that the cases identified so far in her country are not serious.
However, the studies on this variant are still at a very early stage.
In the country, only around 24 percent of people are fully vaccinated.
"Patients usually complain of body aches and pains and fatigue, extreme fatigue, and we see it in the younger generation, not the elderly," she said.
These are not patients who would be admitted directly to a hospital, said Coetzee.
She told the Telegraph that one had to worry that the new variant could hit older people who also suffered from diabetes or heart disease much harder.
In South Africa, only about six percent of the population is over 65 years of age.
Hospital society: three quarters of all clinics postpone operations
5 a.m.:
Due to the large number of Covid patients in intensive care units, more and more clinics in Germany have to postpone so-called predictable operations.
According to the German Hospital Association, normal operations can no longer be maintained in more than three quarters of all hospitals in Germany, and these houses have to postpone operations that can be planned.
"The situation is really increasingly dramatic and leads to some of the discontinued treatments also to physical and psychological stress in the affected patients," said the chairman of the board of the German Hospital Association, Gerald Gass, in Berlin.
For hospitals, postponing operations that can be planned is currently the method of choice in order to be able to continue providing care for acute cases.
Lauterbach: "Games in a full stadium currently not acceptable"
4.30 a.m.: In
view of the dramatic corona situation in Germany, the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach has spoken out against football games in a full stadium. "I find it highly problematic what we see in football," he told the "Bild am Sonntag". “People don't get infected in the stadium, but the journey and the celebrations after the game are the sources of infection. Therefore, games in a full stadium are currently not acceptable. "
On Saturday, the Rhenish Bundesliga derby between 1. FC Köln and Borussia Mönchengladbach took place in front of 50,000 spectators.
The Cologne Health Department approved a corresponding application from the Cologne Club on Friday.
"This is possible due to the successfully practiced hygiene and infection protection concept with 2G, which is classified as viable," said FC managing director Alexander Wehrle.
At other games on Saturday, the number of spectators was limited, the game between RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday will even kick off without fans.
Teachers' unions criticize the nationwide lack of air filter systems in schools
03.14 a.m.:
In view of the increasing number of corona cases, Germany's two large teacher unions are criticizing the still missing air filters in classrooms. "Embedded in room, ventilation and hygiene concepts, air filter systems must be installed immediately," said Maike Finnern, chairwoman of the Education and Science Union (GEW), the editorial network Germany (RND). The Association for Education and Upbringing (VBE) also complained that not much had happened in terms of air-purifying filters.
There has been partial progress, but there can be no talk of broad success, said VBE Federal Chairman Udo Beckmann.
He attributes this mainly to complicated funding procedures and the financial weakness of the municipalities.
"The federal government provided 80 percent of the funding, but many municipalities did not have the strength to contribute the missing 20 percent," said Beckmann.
As a result, often nothing at all happened.
USA praise South Africa for »transparency« since the discovery of the Omikron variant
02.44 a.m.:
The USA have praised South Africa for its "transparency" towards the rest of the world since the discovery of the Omikron variant.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated "the South African scientists on quickly identifying the Omikron variant," said a statement by the State Department on Saturday after Blinken had spoken to his South African colleague on the phone.
The US reaction can also be seen as a swipe at China.
Because contrary to the benevolent words against Pretoria, Washington accuses Beijing of waiting too long to pass on crucial information about the original Covid outbreak.
In the eyes of the United States, more transparent management could have helped stop the spread of the virus.
The South African government, however, complained about "punishment" and bad treatment of South African travelers.
The travel bans for South Africans issued by many countries amounted to "punishing South Africa for its advanced genome sequencing and its ability to recognize new variants more quickly," the government said on Saturday.
Majority expects lockdown before Christmas
2 a.m
.: Fear of infection with the corona virus is growing
among
the population.
According to a representative INSA survey by "Bild am Sonntag" in a preliminary report, 53 percent of those questioned fear infection.
A clear majority of 58 percent consider the current corona measures to be insufficient,
73 percent expect a nationwide lockdown to be decided this year
and a majority of 57 percent even want this measure.
55 percent also believe that politicians pay too much attention to the concerns of unvaccinated people.
Heil announces mandatory vaccination for clinics and homes
1.40 a.m.:
The acting Federal
Minister of
Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) announces that he wants to implement mandatory vaccinations for clinics and homes before Christmas.
Even professional athletes have a "moral obligation to vaccinate," says Hubertus Heil, according to a preliminary report by "Bild am Sonntag".
“The most important thing is that more people get vaccinated.
This also applies to those who earn a lot and are in the limelight, for example professional soccer players.
There is a moral compulsory vaccination. "Heil also advocates a general compulsory vaccination, but a debate about this must be conducted correctly:" Because if the compulsory vaccination is to come, it must be legally reliable and practicable. "
Vaccinations must have an expiry date
1:15 a.m.:
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, is calling for the vaccination status to be limited in order to improve vaccination protection for the population.
"Every vaccination must have an expiration date," says the physician of the Funke media group, according to a preliminary report.
Whose vaccination was a long time ago, then automatically revert to the status of the unvaccinated.
Anyone who can be boosted is considered vaccinated again.
To this end, it must now be clarified how long the vaccination protection lasts and when this expiry date must be set.
At the end of the week, the EU Commission had also proposed a booster vaccination against Corona as a prerequisite for the continued validity of the EU's digital Covid certificate.
Bahn controls 80,000 travelers according to 3G rules - 40 passengers had to get off
1:13 a.m.:
In the first days of the introduction of the 3G rules, Deutsche Bahn checked around 80,000 travelers to
see
whether they had been vaccinated, recovered or tested.
So far there have only been 40 cases of expulsion from the train, as reported by "Bild am Sonntag".
9,000 security and control employees checked around 20,000 passengers a day between Wednesday and Saturday evening in long-distance traffic.
The new law obliges transport companies to carry out spot checks.
In long-distance rail traffic, this happens on around 400 connections per day.
According to BamS, around 250,000 travelers are currently on the ICE and IC trains every day.
You can find the detailed report here: Deutsche Bahn has checked 3G 80,000 times so far
Netherlands in the evening lockdown from Sunday
01:00 a.m.:
Due to a sharp increase in the number of infections and patients, the Netherlands will go into an evening corona lockdown from this Sunday on.
Shops, cultural venues, restaurants and sports clubs must close at 5 p.m.
The tightened measures will initially apply until December 18.
This does not apply to supermarkets.
Schools should remain open for the time being.
However, students aged ten and over must wear a mask when they are not in their place.
The 1.5 meter distance rule is being extended to cinemas, theaters and restaurants.
This means that fewer visitors are allowed in at the same time.
The mask requirement will apply there again.
A real turnaround must be achieved, said Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Friday when the new rules were announced.
As a justification, the government also pointed out that the situation in the hospitals had worsened.
Steinmeier calls on citizens to restrict contact
00.15 a.m.:
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urged citizens to prevent a lockdown through voluntary contact
restrictions
.
"It is important that we all act together now," wrote Steinmeier in a guest post for "Bild am Sonntag".
“If we stick to the rules, let's reduce our contacts again.
Let's do it so that schools and daycare centers don't close again, so that we don't have to shut down public life completely. "
Steinmeier also appealed again to people to get vaccinated: “We could be so much further!
This is a bitter but necessary realization.
We have the means to protect ourselves from a serious, even fatal course of the disease.
But still too few have made use of it.
So I ask you again today: Get vaccinated and renew your vaccination protection in good time! "
On Saturday, the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina proposed to quickly impose several weeks of contact bans also for vaccinated people in order to break the strong fourth corona wave.
In addition, 30 million people in Germany would have to receive a booster vaccination by the end of the year.
A vaccination, at least for employees in the health service, is necessary.
oka / AFP / AP / dpa / Reuters