BIn view of the rapidly increasing number of cases, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach believes it is important that a possible corona vaccination obligation comes into force quickly after a corresponding decision by the Bundestag. The obligation to vaccinate must come quickly, said the SPD politician on Tuesday evening on the RTL Direkt program. “If we want to make an application that still works, then it is an application that puts the vaccination requirement into effect – what do I know – in April or around April, maybe in May.” there must be enough time to immunize the unvaccinated against a possible new corona wave in autumn. However, there should be no government proposal from the red-green-yellow coalition. Instead, groups of MPs should bring motions to Parliament on the subject. The Union had criticized this approach.
Anyone who has not yet been vaccinated must “go through three vaccination cycles (…) and by then it will be in September or October,” said Lauterbach. “Because it has to be done quickly so that I can avert the wave – and that’s the reason for the obligation to vaccinate – so that I can still avert the wave in the fall.”
Lauterbach also expressed the expectation that the number of cases would continue to rise – and that the omicron wave in Germany would probably peak in mid-February.
For the first time, more than 100,000 new infections within one day
Criticism for the plan to vaccinate came from the chief of civil servants, Ulrich Silberbach. With a view to compulsory vaccination, Silberbach told the FAZ: “I do not understand that the government is not presenting its own draft law on this, but ducks away.”
The Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen told the editorial network Germany (RND): “I believe that after thorough consultation, the German Bundestag should vote on the general obligation to vaccinate against the corona virus in March.” If you wanted to keep to this time frame, “it would make sense to discuss the group motions for the first time in February”. Lauterbach said with a view to the upcoming deliberations in Parliament: “I would say that we will see important debates at the end of February/beginning of March.”
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced more than 100,000 new infections within one day for the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic. According to the RKI, the health authorities reported 112,323 cases in 24 hours on Wednesday morning. This emerges from figures that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5:12 a.m. On Friday, the number was above the 90,000 mark for the first time. Exactly one week ago there were 80,430 new infections recorded. The RKI now gave the seven-day incidence as 584.4. This is also a high. For comparison: the day before, the nationwide incidence was 553.2, a week ago 407.5, in the previous month 315.4.
According to the new information, 239 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 384 deaths. The RKI has counted 8,186,850 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.
The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was 3.17 according to the RKI on Tuesday. On Monday it was slightly lower at 3.14. The RKI gave the number of recovered people on Wednesday morning as 7,098,400. The number of people who died from or involved a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 116,081.
It is striking that compared to the previous corona waves, more and more urban districts have the highest incidences. There are currently particularly high values in Berlin. The district of Berlin-Mitte tops the list with an incidence of almost 1800; Also represented among the ten highest values are Berlin Neukölln (1641.8), Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (1477.7), Reinickendorf (1215.9) and Spandau (1166.4) as well as Bremen (1361.9), Frankfurt (1171, 8) and Potsdam (1113.1).