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Corona test center in Hanover
Photo: Ole Spata / dpa
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Doctor President Reinhardt defends reduction of recovered status to three months
3:32 a.m .:
Medical President Klaus Reinhardt has defended the reduction of the recovered status for corona infected people from six to three months.
"The previous scientific evidence indicates that unvaccinated people can contract the omicron variant much earlier than six months after undergoing a delta infection," said Reinhardt of the "Rheinische Post".
Therefore, the shortening of the convalescent status "makes sense from a medical point of view".
With regard to travel, the President of the German Medical Association called for a Europe-wide uniform regulation.
"We support the fact that the federal government wants to work at EU level to shorten the status of those who have recovered," said Reinhardt.
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Coronavirus: Why recovery is not the same as recoveryBy Nina Weber
Criticism of the federal government going it alone came from the President of the Marburg Association, Susanne Johna.
"I don't think that the 90-day rule in Germany can be maintained in the long term," she told the "Rheinische Post".
After all, the member states of the EU “only a few days ago set the validity of the convalescent status to six months”.
In principle, it is true that the number of antibodies in most people drops about 90 days after an infection.
“Of course, this is not a fixed deadline and varies greatly from patient to patient.
It also depends on how strong the immune response to the infection was.
In this respect, the Europe-wide regulation is quite justifiable," said Johna.
»That should not be called into question by going it alone.«
The EU member states have agreed that the Corona certificate for those who have recovered should be valid for 180 days, i.e. six months.
In Germany, however, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has shortened this period to three months.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) announced that he would now also work at EU level for a recovered status of three instead of six months.
City day calls for clarity on facility-related vaccination requirements
2:19 a.m .:
The President of the German Association of Cities, Markus Lewe, has criticized open questions about the mandatory vaccination for employees of hospitals and nursing homes.
The facility-related vaccination requirement will only have an effect “if employers, employees and authorities can clearly see in which cases unvaccinated people are no longer allowed to work after March 15 and what exceptions there are,” said the CDU politician to the “Rheinische Post «.
Everyone was poking around in the fog here at the moment.
"In addition, the procedures must be significantly simplified so that the health authorities can carry them out at all."
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Compulsory vaccinations in the Bundestag: the disorientation debate by Christian Teevs and Milena Hassenkamp
Shortage of staff in clinics and homes: "We cared for people with Corona, even before there was a vaccination"
The law passed by the Bundestag and Bundesrat in December stipulates that employees in facilities with vulnerable people such as nursing homes and clinics must submit proof of being vaccinated or recovered by March 15, 2022 - or a certificate that they cannot be vaccinated.
Employers must inform the health authorities if evidence is not submitted.
They can then prohibit employment in the facility.
Municipalities, operators and the federal states have concerns about the feasibility.
Lewe criticized: “As it is, the law will come to nothing.” Because the health authorities would now receive “thousands and thousands of cases of unproven vaccinations, which they should investigate individually”.
This procedure is very complex, the health authorities, which are already working at the limit, would hardly be able to make decisions about bans on activities in a timely manner.
"Instead, we propose that the obligation to be vaccinated in the law be consistently provided with a ban on activity and entry," said Lewe.
In addition, it is not known to whom exactly the vaccination obligation applies, says Lewe.
“We call on the federal and state governments to create legal clarity immediately.
In view of the scarce time, it is becoming increasingly clear that transitional periods will also be necessary.«
Habeck has announced that Corona aid will be extended beyond March
1:44 a.m .:
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) has announced an extension of the corona aid.
“I hope that by the end of March we will be in a different situation.
However, should it be necessary to extend the aid again in order to ensure the survival of hard-hit companies, then we in the federal government will provide the funds for this," Habeck told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
According to Habeck, the current aid has got off to a good start.
The first partial payments - so-called advance payments - have been flowing since January 18 and have arrived in the accounts of those affected.
Since January 7, 4370 applications for bridging aid IV with a volume of around 222 million euros have been made, as reported by the Funke newspapers, citing the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
With the bridging aid IV, companies that continue to be severely affected by the corona pandemic will receive state support for the period from January to March.
The money does not have to be paid back.
Russia's statistics agency reports more than 660,000 corona deaths
12:24 a.m .:
More than 660,000 people in Russia have died from an infection with the corona virus since the pandemic began.
As the statistics agency Rosstat announced on Friday, the population of Russia shrank by more than a million people in 2021.
This continues the downward trend from the previous year.
In 2020, a drop of more than half a million was registered.
According to a government website on the pandemic, 329,443 people died in Russia in connection with a corona infection.
Rosstat applies a broader definition of corona deaths.
Russia is one of the countries most severely affected by the corona pandemic.
Although four vaccines are available, there is great skepticism about vaccination in the country.
Not even half the population is fully vaccinated against the virus.
The number of corona deaths is exacerbating the demographic crisis that the country has been in for around 30 years.
The main reasons are the declining birth rate and a comparatively low life expectancy.
The number of births per woman in Russia is around 1.5.
The government of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been trying to counter the population decline for years.
In his addresses to the nation, Putin often encourages people to have more children and lead healthier lifestyles in order to increase their life expectancy.
There are also a number of financial incentives for parents with more than one child.
cop/dpa/AFP/Reuters
