The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports around 76,470 new positive tests within 24 hours. That is around 18,800 fewer cases than on Monday a week ago. The nationwide seven-day incidence drops to 1460 from 1467 the previous day. 42 people died in connection with the virus. This increases the number of reported deaths to 119,977. So far, more than 12.42 million corona tests have been positive in Germany.
However, the figures are only of limited significance. Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. Test capacities and health authorities are at the limit in many places, contacts are only traced to a limited extent. That is why we use the SZ Corona Dashboard to show an average value from the reports of the past seven days, which is intended to compensate for fluctuations from day to day. You can find more information on this in the transparency blog, further data and graphics on the pandemic here. (14.02.2022)
Expert advice: loosening possible under certain conditions
The Federal Government’s Council of Experts believes that the corona measures may be relaxed in the coming weeks, but warns against withdrawing them too early. “Opening too early carries the risk of a renewed increase in the burden of disease,” says the sixth opinion of the panel of experts published on Sunday evening. “Due to the sub-variant BA.2, an omicron wave that is longer or rising again compared to current estimates for BA.1 must be expected.” Nevertheless, the Expert Council unanimously came to the conclusion that “despite some uncertainties (…) a prudent withdrawal of individual infection control measures will be possible in the coming weeks”.
The conditions for a permanent withdrawal of all state-prescribed infection protection measures are the achievement of “a high vaccination rate and, at the same time, the independent action of the citizens”. The vaccination target of 80 percent of the population set by the federal government has not yet been reached.
The Expert Council points out the effectiveness of protection provided by masks. “The possibility of using the mask requirement, especially in public spaces, should be retained in principle,” it says. It can be “temporarily” lifted if the number of infections is sufficiently low. The Expert Council points out that as part of any opening steps, unvaccinated people and older people at risk of a severe course of the disease will be increasingly involved in the infection process.
On Wednesday, the heads of the federal and state governments will again discuss the further Corona course. On Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised the first opening steps, which are also being called for by some Prime Ministers. (13.02.2022)
RKI firmly expects a new wave of infections in autumn
The Robert Koch Institute is expecting a new corona wave in autumn. This emerges from an internal assessment of the situation Süddeutsche Zeitung is available and which was discussed last week in the Corona crisis team of the federal government headed by Major General Carsten Breuer. The endemic has not yet been reached, one is in a transitional phase, according to the assessment of the RKI experts. Those who were not vaccinated and who had not recovered would gradually become infected as society opened up. In future waves, the load on intensive care units will depend on the proportion of immunonaïve people older than 50, the virulence and transmissibility of the circulating variant, the closing of vaccination gaps, the availability and effectiveness of antiviral therapies and the behavior of the population. (13.02.2022)
The Austrian government does not rule out the suspension of compulsory vaccination
The general obligation to vaccinate against the corona virus, which has just come into force in Austria, could soon be suspended again. If an expert council speaks out in favor of it, they will stick to it, said Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) after a report in the newspaper Krone from Sunday in an interview. Austrian law is one of the strictest in Europe. Other countries have only made vaccination compulsory for certain occupational groups. In Germany, too, there is a discussion about mandatory corona vaccination.
The law that came into force last weekend is constantly being evaluated, said Nehammer. “A commission of lawyers and doctors is constantly reassessing whether vaccination is still the legal means,” he said. When asked whether the law could soon be history, the chancellor replied: “If the experts judge it that way and propose it to the government, then yes. The purpose of this law was never to take coercive measures, but to take the right ones Finding an answer at the right time to the respective danger of the virus.” (13.02.2022)
Interior Minister Faeser: Bavaria should implement compulsory vaccination
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has asked Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) to implement compulsory corona vaccination in health facilities. “The obligation to vaccinate in clinics and nursing homes is a federal regulation that Markus Söder himself helped to decide in the Federal Council,” said Faeser picture on sunday. “I expect Mr. Söder to implement compulsory vaccination. Period.” federal law applies. “We demand that. I can’t imagine Mr. Söder questioning the basic principles of our constitution.”
Söder had announced that it would suspend the compulsory vaccination, which will come into effect in mid-March. It cannot be implemented in its current form, and the federal government must improve it. He later added that Bavaria would comply with federal law. Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) had pleaded for a postponement of the facility-related vaccination requirement by a few months. The regulation stipulates that employees in nursing homes and clinics must submit proof of being vaccinated or recovered by March 15th – or a certificate that they cannot be vaccinated. (13.02.2022)
Canada: Police dissolve first trucker blockades
Canadian police have begun clearing trucker blockades at a key border bridge between the city of Windsor in Canada and Detroit in the United States. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had previously not ruled out the violent dissolution of blockades in view of the trucker protests that have been going on for more than two weeks. If the demonstrators against the government’s corona measures did not go home, there would be “increasing police intervention,” Trudeau announced in Ottawa on Friday. He called the blockades illegal. Any measure is possible, but the deployment of the military is the last resort. The affected province of Ontario has declared a state of emergency.
Thousands of people have been demonstrating in Canada against corona measures and vaccination regulations for weeks. With trucks and other vehicles, they block, among other things, parts of downtown Ottawa. The protests initially focused on vaccination requirements for truck drivers and then on government pandemic restrictions overall. In January, a regulation came into effect requiring truck drivers returning from the United States to also present proof of vaccination.
According to Trudeau, the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit – as well as other border crossings – led to the halt of car production by six manufacturers due to missing parts. 25 percent of Canadian-American freight traffic flows across the bridge – that corresponds to a goods value of the equivalent of 275 million euros per day. The region is closely interwoven economically across the border. That’s why Trudeau spoke to US President Joe Biden on Friday. (12.02.2022)
The pace of vaccination in Germany is decreasing significantly
In Germany, fewer and fewer vaccinations against the corona virus are being administered every day. On Friday there were 193,000 vaccine doses, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Saturday. That is significantly fewer vaccinations than on Friday last week (305,327) and than two weeks ago (432,324 vaccinations).
At least 62.2 million people, or 74.8 percent of the population, have now received basic protection, which usually requires two injections. At least 46 million people, or 55.4 percent of the population, have received a booster shot. 63.3 million people or 76.1 percent have been vaccinated at least once. A large group of 19.9 million people remain unvaccinated. This corresponds to 23.9 percent of the population. However, no vaccine has been approved for four million of them because they are four years old or younger.
The RKI has long pointed out that the numbers shown are to be understood as minimum vaccination rates. A hundred percent coverage by the reporting system cannot be achieved. The RKI assumes that the actual vaccination rate is up to five percentage points higher than officially stated. (12.02.2022)
