Before the round of Prime Ministers: Experts agree on higher numbers in Germany

Before the prime ministerial round
Experts agree Germany on higher numbers

On Monday, the country heads will meet again with Chancellor Scholz to discuss how to proceed with the Omicron wave. The recommendations of the advisory experts are already available. So now it’s time to wait and be prepared for the worst.

The Federal Government’s Expert Council does not recommend any tightening of the current measures before the next round of Prime Ministers. However, the 19 members of the group urge thorough preparations for a possible further deterioration in the corona situation. If further “critical marks” such as a high hospitalization rate were reached, further protective measures would be necessary, according to the statement of the expert council distributed by the federal government on Saturday evening. These measures should therefore “be prepared now so that they can be implemented without delay”.

In addition, the experts, including the Berlin virologist Christian Drosten and RKI boss Lothar Wieler, called for a “strict implementation of the previous measures” with reference to the “highly dynamic infection process”. At the same time, the scientists also showed a perspective for reducing the corona restrictions. If the basic immunity in the population increases and the number of new infections and the number of Covid 19 patients in hospitals decreases, the contact restrictions should be gradually reduced, the paper says.

relaxation too early

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst has already spoken out against any major easing of measures. “A signal for large-scale, blanket easing would be too early at the moment,” said the CDU politician in an interview with the “Tagesspiegel”. “Around 1,500 people are still dying of Corona every week, the staff in the hospitals are completely exhausted – we can’t be cold about that,” pointed out Wüst, who is the chairman of the Prime Ministers’ Conference.

In retail and gastronomy, there is currently no question of relaxing the 2G and 2G Plus rules, said Wüst. It is also about planning. “The worst thing for people is a lack of predictability and constant back and forth. That’s why foresight is important. But that also means that you don’t change regulations every 14 days in one direction and then back in the other direction,” said the NRW prime minister.

Vaccination as a way out

The Expert Council continues to regard vaccination as an essential measure for overcoming the corona pandemic. It was “urgent to close the remaining immunity gaps in society through vaccination,” he said. Otherwise, “strong waves of infection and illness can always be expected”.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced the start of a new vaccination campaign for the coming week. “We have a duty to reach people,” said Lauterbach of “Bild am Sonntag”. His announcement: “We must try everything to close the vaccination gap, which is also a prerequisite for a possible vaccination requirement.”

The country heads want to discuss the situation with Chancellor Olaf Scholz this Monday in view of the rapid spread of the corona variant Omikron. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) recently reported a significant increase in the nationwide seven-day incidence, the new infections within one day were more than 135,000.

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