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Jacinda Ardern
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Nationwide seven-day incidence exceeds 800 threshold for the first time
6:31 a.m .:
The incidence value for new corona infections in Germany exceeded the threshold of 800 for the first time.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the seven-day incidence on Sunday morning as 806.8.
On Saturday the value was 772.7, on Sunday last week it was 515.7.
According to data from the health authorities, the number of new infections within 24 hours was 85,440 on Sunday – after 135,461 the day before and 52,504 on Sunday last week.
As the RKI further announced, citing data from the health authorities, 54 new deaths related to the corona virus were counted on Sunday.
According to the latest information from the institute, the health authorities have recorded a total of 8,681,447 cases of infection since the beginning of the pandemic.
The total number of registered corona deaths in Germany is now 116,718.
The RKI puts the number of people in Germany who have recovered from an illness caused by the coronavirus at around 7,230,000.
New Zealand's head of government tightens corona rules - and cancels her own wedding
6:28 a.m .:
The New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has tightened the corona measures in the country because of an outbreak of the omicron variant and at the same time had to call off her own wedding.
"My wedding will not take place," she said on Sunday after the new restrictions were announced.
These provide for a maximum of 100 fully vaccinated participants for events.
Ardern and her longtime partner Clarke Gayford hadn't announced a date for their wedding celebration, but it was thought to take place in the coming weeks.
The new corona restrictions should apply at least until the end of next month.
"That's life," she said when asked how she felt about her canceled wedding.
She is like many other New Zealanders who have had similar experiences because of the pandemic, said Ardern.
It is even worse not being able to be with a loved one who is seriously ill during the pandemic.
"It far outweighs the sadness I feel," Ardern said.
The new coronavirus restrictions came after nine members of a family contracted the highly contagious omicron variant while traveling to a wedding in another city.
A flight attendant on the plane they used also became infected.
In addition to the restrictions on events, masks will again be compulsory in shops and public transport from Sunday.
New Zealand has counted 15,104 Covid-19 cases and 52 deaths since the beginning of the corona pandemic.
In the past two years, strict entry regulations have applied most of the time, and short lockdowns have been imposed time and again.
Romania, Moldova and Kosovo now high-risk areas
12:17 a.m .:
Since this Sunday, another 19 states have been considered high-risk corona areas, which entails travel warnings and certain quarantine rules when entering from there.
In Europe, these now include Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Kosovo.
A total of 155 countries are on the risk list of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
In addition to the three European countries, these new countries have been added: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Saudi Arabia, Japan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as well as the Maldives, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Paraguay.
Anyone entering the country from a high-risk area and who does not have at least full basic protection with the second syringe that is usually necessary or has recovered must be in quarantine for ten days and can free themselves from this at the earliest five days after entry with a negative test.
For children who have not yet reached the age of six, the isolation ends automatically five days after entry.
The classification as a high-risk area is linked to a travel warning from the Federal Foreign Office for non-essential tourist trips.
It makes it easier for tourists to cancel trips that have already been booked free of charge, but does not mean that they are banned from travel.
The classification as a risk area is made after a joint analysis and decision by the Federal Ministry of Health, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of the Interior.
Countries and regions with a particularly high risk of infection are classified as high-risk areas.
However, it is not only the number of infections that is decisive for this.
Other criteria are the speed at which the virus is spreading, the burden on the healthcare system and the lack of data on the corona situation.
Almost six million corona deaths
12:12 a.m .: So
far, around 343.66 million people worldwide have been shown to be infected with the corona virus.
This is the result of a Reuters survey based on official data.
Over 5.93 million people died with or from the virus, which was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, China.
The United States has the highest number of infections and deaths.
India and Brazil follow in terms of infections.
Association of cities and municipalities calls for Corona exit plan
12:05 a.m .:
Before the Prime Minister’s Conference on Monday, the German Association of Towns and Municipalities asked the federal and state governments to develop a step-by-step corona relaxation plan. "An exit strategy must be prepared now," said managing director Gerd Landsberg of the editorial network Germany (RND). "In the neighboring countries, we can see that the pandemic will have reached its peak at some point and then the numbers will drop again drastically and quickly."
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach estimates that this point will be reached in Germany around mid-February.
“It would therefore be wise to determine now when which restrictions can be rolled back, in what order and under what conditions,” he said.
"That would also be an important signal of hope to the population that there is light at the end of the tunnel."
ime/dop/Reuters/dpa/AFP
