Last Tuesday, the heads of government of the 16 federal states with Chancellor Angela Merkel took tougher measures in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic Germany decided. The city-state of Hamburg had already implemented the resolutions on Friday, Brandenburg on Saturday. Four more federal states followed on Sunday and since this Monday the new rules have been in effect throughout the federal territory – although some federal states do not want to (directly) implement all of them.
The German health authorities reported 12,497 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) within one day. In addition, 343 new deaths were recorded within 24 hours, as the RKI announced in the morning. The high of 1,188 new deaths was reached on Friday. Among the new infections registered within 24 hours, the highest value was reported on December 18, at 33,777 – but this included 3500 late reports. The number of cases recorded is usually lower on Mondays, partly because fewer tests are carried out on the weekend. Basically, the interpretation of the data is currently difficult because around Christmas and the turn of the year corona cases were discovered, recorded and transmitted with a delay according to the RKI. The number of new infections reported to the health authorities within seven days per 100,000 inhabitants (seven-day incidence) was 166.6 on this Monday morning. Its previous high was reached on December 22nd at 197.6.
Germany was “in the worst pandemic since the virus began to spread,” said Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey (SPD) of the “Rheinische Post”. It is not the time to relax. This is exactly what the candidate for the CDU chairmanship, Friedrich Merz, demands. The lockdown must be ended as quickly as possible, especially for small and medium-sized companies. “For many small companies the point has already been reached where it will not go on,” he told the “Bild” newspaper.
Restrictions on retail may also have accelerated the Adler fashion chain’s over-indebtedness. The Bavarian company is one of the largest textile retailers in Germany. One wants to reorganize itself over an insolvency plan in self-administration, it says in a mandatory announcement of the Adler Modemärkte AG.
The pontiff in silent prayer
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Im Vatican Pope Francis announced that he would be vaccinated against COVID-19. “We will start doing this in the coming week, and I am also registered for it,” said the head of the Catholic Church on the Italian TV channel Tg5. From an ethical point of view, everyone should be vaccinated, because you not only play with your life, but also with that of others. “I don’t understand why some say: no, the vaccine is dangerous,” said the 84-year-old. “There’s a suicidal refusal that I can’t explain, but you have to get vaccinated today.”
The australian Metropolis Brisbane is lifting the express lockdown that it imposed after a three-day period due to an infection with the coronavirus mutation first discovered in Great Britain. No further corona cases had been discovered in mass tests in Brisbane in the past few days, as the head of government of the state of Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk, announced.
Brisbane in Lockdwon (archive)
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South Korea reports 451 new infections. This means the daily number is below the 500 mark for the first time since the beginning of December.
Chinese Health authority reports 103 new corona cases. Most of this is in Hebei Province.
Protests against the Corona rules: Demonstration in Prague
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In Czech Republic Thousands of people protested against the restrictions in force. The police counted up to 3,000 demonstrators in the capital Prague, many of whom did not wear history masks and hardly kept their distance from one another. The Czech government initially relaxed the restrictions last month, but then tightened them again from December 27th.
rb / wa (afp, dpa, rtr)
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