4:54 p.m .: The health ministers of the federal states are urging timely preparations for a new corona wave in Germany from autumn. “The corona pandemic is not over yet. We must not be fooled by the currently declining incidences,” said Petra Grimm-Benne, Chairwoman of the Conference of Health Ministers from Saxony-Anhalt, after a video call with Federal Minister Karl Lauterbach (both SPD) on Monday. The federal government should therefore quickly draw up a “master plan” and coordinate it with the federal states. This should also include an adjustment of the Infection Protection Act.
Lauterbach expressly welcomed the decision. “The countries must be able to react to a possible flare-up of the pandemic,” said the SPD politician to the German Press Agency. To do this, they would need more instruments than the current law provides. “We have to be prepared for the cold season. A clear legal framework is part of it,” said Lauterbach. He had already announced a pandemic concept for the fall.
In a resolution passed unanimously by the federal states, the federal government is asked to initiate the legislative process as soon as possible. From autumn, for example, a mask requirement indoors could be reacted to. In addition, there should be obligations to submit vaccination, convalescence or test certificates with corresponding access restrictions for risky areas and facilities – i.e. regulations such as 2G or 3G. According to the information, binding infection protection concepts are also mentioned.
The recently amended Infection Protection Act runs until September 23rd. General mask requirements for events or when shopping as well as 2G and 3G regulations have therefore been eliminated since the beginning of April. For the time being, “basic protection” applies – for example with mask requirements in buses, trains, clinics, practices and nursing homes. Irrespective of state requirements, however, there are also further protection rules with mask requirements in many places, for example in cultural institutions.
Lauterbach had warned at the weekend of a return of the delta variant of the corona virus, which leads to more severe courses than the current Omicron variant. Saxony-Anhalt’s department head Grimm-Benne also explained: “With a view to autumn and winter, we have to expect new virus variants to appear.”
10.30 a.m .: In North Korea there is apparently growing concern about the increasing number of corona cases. The country reported 15 more deaths from “fever” on Sunday. According to the state news agency KCNA, the number of deaths rose to a total of 42 – with 820,620 cases of illness and at least 324,550 with medical treatment.
North Korea only recently officially reported its first corona cases. Leader Kim Jong Un said the outbreak had caused “major unrest” in the country. A “total lockdown” has been ordered for all provinces and cities, according to KCNA. Despite drastic measures, North Korea reports high numbers of new cases in the unvaccinated population every day.
North Korea announced on Thursday that the highly contagious omicron variant had been discovered in the capital Pyongyang. The already largely isolated communist North Korea sealed off its borders in early 2020 to protect itself from the pandemic. According to experts, the country has one of the worst health systems in the world.
4.43 p.m .: In order to compensate for the disadvantages caused by the pandemic, such as the loss of lessons, alternating lessons and quarantine periods, most federal states grant their students relief in the current Abitur exams. This was the result of a survey by the editorial network Germany (RND/Saturday) among all German ministries of culture.
Accordingly, the students in most federal states were given more time to take the exams. In the majority of countries, a corona-related 30-minute extension of the exam duration was granted.
Only Thuringia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Lower Saxony decided differently: According to the Ministry of Education, students in Thuringia are given 45 minutes more time for the mathematics exam, and 30 minutes in other subjects as well. In Rhineland-Palatinate, on the other hand, there is only an additional five minutes for the preparation time for the oral exams. Lower Saxony does not grant any extended examination times.
8:07 a.m .: Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has warned of the return of the Delta variant of the corona virus and announced the procurement of different vaccines. “The pandemic is not over yet. An omicron wave in autumn is likely. But even the more dangerous Delta variant could come back,” said Lauterbach of the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post” (Saturday edition), referring to a corresponding study from Israel.
Germany must adapt to both scenarios, he said. “We need vaccines against both variants. That will be very expensive. But another missed autumn would be unaffordable for the economy.” The federal government expects a vaccine against the omicron variant in September.
Lauterbach made serious allegations against the Union in this regard. “Compulsory vaccination would have made everything easier. The Union is to blame if the vaccine gap leads to avoidable deaths and restrictions,” he said. “Without their party tactical blockade, vaccination would have been compulsory.”
The German Association of Towns and Municipalities called on the federal and state governments to make preparations for a new corona wave. The vaccination options must be maintained, said managing director Gerd Landsberg to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Saturday editions).
Saturday, May 14, 6:22 a.m .: The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the nationwide seven-day incidence on Saturday morning as 477.0. This is evident from numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5 a.m. The day before, the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week was 485.7 (previous week: 544.0; previous month: 1015.7).
However, the incidence does not provide a complete picture of the infection situation. Experts have been assuming for some time that there will be a large number of cases not recorded by the RKI – due to overworked health authorities and because not all infected people have a PCR test done. Only these count in the statistics. In addition, late registrations or transmission problems can lead to a distortion of individual daily values.
The health authorities in Germany recently reported 61,859 new corona infections (previous week: 72,252 registered infections) and 144 deaths (previous week: 184) to the RKI within one day. Here, too, comparisons of the data are only possible to a limited extent due to the test behavior, late registrations or transmission problems. In general, the number of registered new infections and deaths varies significantly from weekday to weekday, as more and more federal states do not transmit to the RKI, especially at weekends, and report their cases later in the week.
The RKI has counted 25,723,697 infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections go undetected.
8:36 a.m .: North Korea has reported a death after being infected with the corona virus for the first time. Since the end of April, six people have died with a fever that has spread “explosively” across the country for reasons that are still unclear, the state media reported on Friday. The omicron subvariant BA.2 of the coronavirus was detected in one of the victims. Only the day before, the isolated and authoritarian country had officially confirmed infections with the pathogen for the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic more than two years ago. The undetermined number of cases therefore occurred in Pyongyang.
5:12 a.m .: The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the nationwide seven-day incidence on Friday morning as 485.7. This is evident from numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5 a.m. The day before, the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week was 502.4 (previous week: 553.2; previous month: 1044.7). However, the incidence does not provide a complete picture of the infection situation. Experts have been assuming for some time that there will be a large number of cases not recorded by the RKI – due to overworked health authorities and because not all infected people have a PCR test done. Only these count in the statistics. In addition, late registrations or transmission problems can lead to a distortion of individual daily values.
The health authorities in Germany recently reported 68,999 new corona infections (previous week: 85,073 registered infections) and 164 deaths (previous week: 214) to the RKI within one day. Here, too, comparisons of the data are only possible to a limited extent due to the test behavior, late registrations or transmission problems. In general, the number of registered new infections and deaths varies significantly from weekday to weekday, as more and more federal states do not transmit to the RKI, especially at weekends, and report their cases later in the week.
The RKI has counted 25,661,838 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections go undetected.
6.14 p.m .: After the EU decision against continuing the general obligation to wear masks in air traffic, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) called for easing for all public transport in Germany on Thursday. He also expressly referred this to buses and trains. Green health expert Janosch Dahmen rejected the move. It’s about “a question of common sense”.
“Now that the European authorities no longer recommend the wearing of masks in airports and on board aircraft, there is an urgent need for adjustment in Germany,” explained Wissing in Berlin .” He also sees the same need for adjustment for the mask requirement on buses and trains, explained Wissing further.
Dahmen, on the other hand, told the “Handelsblatt” that the mask requirement should continue to apply “for the time being”. “Buses and trains are often crowded and therefore perfect conditions for the virus,” said the doctor.
Older reports on Corona can be found on the following pages.
What you need to know What you can do. (Advertisement)
