Berlin The federal and state governments want to prioritize the PCR tests more strongly in view of the rapidly increasing number of corona cases. This emerges from the draft resolution for the conference of state leaders with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Monday. “The currently high number of new infections, which is expected to continue to rise, is leading to bottlenecks in the available PCR tests,” the Reuters news agency quoted from the draft.
In future, PCR tests are to be limited to vulnerable groups and employees who care for and treat them – i.e. to the staff in hospitals, medical practices and nursing staff. The paper also mentions the development of an opening perspective.
Before the draft became known, the expert council of the federal government had again warned of an overload of the health system and a threat to critical infrastructure. He also complained about the poor information situation in the fight against the omicron variant of the corona virus.
“At the moment, Germany is primarily using foreign studies, for example from Great Britain, Denmark and the USA, to assess the omicron variant,” says the statement. Although these data are of great value for the assessment of the current situation and potential scenarios, their transferability to Germany is limited, which implies the possibility of incorrect assessments.
The 19-strong expert council includes the virologists Hendrik Streeck and Christian Drosten. The committee calls for a comprehensive digitization of the healthcare system and the introduction of an electronic patient file.
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The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 85,440 newly infected people on Sunday. The seven-day incidence rose to an all-time high of 806.8. The peak of the fifth wave is not expected until mid-February.
The now dominant omicron variant, which is considered to be significantly more contagious than the delta mutant, tends to be associated with a milder course. Anyone who has been vaccinated or even boosted has a significantly lower risk of becoming seriously ill. Nevertheless, the Expert Council warns that a large number of hospital admissions are to be expected if the incidence continues to rise. In the intensive care unit recordings, the increase in the omicron wave is slowly becoming visible.
According to the daily report of the Divi intensive care register, 2426 Covid 19 patients were in intensive care treatment on Sunday – 28 more than the day before. That was the first increase since mid-December.
In the opinion of the Expert Council, the highly dynamic infection process requires “maintenance and strict implementation of the previous measures”. In addition, further infection control measures could soon become necessary. In order to break the dynamic, the experts call for an “intensification of the booster campaign”. In the long term, there is an urgent need to close the remaining immunity gaps in society through vaccination.
Scholz currently sees no reason to change course with the Corona measures. “In any case, it is certainly not appropriate to relax the rules across the board in the middle of the Omicron wave,” he said in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” with a view to the upcoming corona consultations. “We don’t need a course correction.” The country is on the right track.
Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil had previously spoken out against loosening – but also against tightening. The sharply increasing incidences played a role, but: “We have to rethink a bit compared to the previous waves of infection,” said the SPD politician on Friday on ARD. “We’re dealing with a new opponent, so you have to adjust your strategy accordingly.”
CSU boss Markus Söder also spoke out against tightened measures on Sunday. Rather, it is about adjusting the rules in individual places, said Bavaria’s Prime Minister of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “Omicron is not Delta, so we cannot transfer the measures 1:1 from one mutation to the other,” said Söder. The decisive yardstick is the burden on the health system.
General obligation to vaccinate: SPD Vice Dirk Wiese gives the first details
In order to prevent future corona waves, Chancellor Scholz advocates the introduction of a general obligation to vaccinate. He is confident of being able to achieve a majority in his own government, he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “I wish for the majority in every respect,” Scholz continued. “In the people. In Parliament. In the parties.” At the same time, Scholz defended the classification of the question as a decision of conscience.
A parliamentary orientation debate on compulsory vaccination is to take place this week. From mid-March, vaccination will be compulsory for employees of clinics, nursing homes, medical practices and rescue services. The deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese, who, together with other members of the traffic light coalition, is preparing the key points for compulsory vaccination from the age of 18, now gave the first details.
Accordingly, the vaccination requirement should be limited to one to two years, apply to no more than three vaccinations and be enforced through fines, as the domestic and legal politician of the German Press Agency said. He wants to do without a vaccination register because it would take too much time. Exceptions should be checked by the medical officer.
According to deputy boss Dagmar Schmidt, the majority of the SPD faction favors compulsory vaccination for adults. There are still some MPs who are thoughtful about detailed questions, she told the Handelsblatt. But in the basic direction there is broad agreement. According to Schmidt, without such an obligation, it will not be possible to achieve basic immunity in the population and thus the endemic situation.
Giffey and Dreyer promote compulsory vaccination
Saxony’s head of state Michael Kretschmer (CDU) warned of a proposal from the federal government. Introducing compulsory vaccination is the task of the coalition in Berlin. Therefore, the government must come forward vigorously with a proposal, promote its proposal and take others with it.
“It cannot be that in this pandemic all unpleasant issues are weighted away by the federal states, the RKI or the Paul Ehrlich Institute,” Kretschmer told the Handelsblatt. Politicians need leadership, especially when it comes to these difficult issues.
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey and the Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (both SPD) again campaigned for general vaccination. “If we don’t succeed in increasing the vaccination rate, we must deal intensively with compulsory vaccination in order to protect our society from the fact that we will have to do without so much because of Corona in the coming winter,” said Dreyer.
So far, there had only been one application from the ranks of the traffic light coalition led by Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP), who spoke out against general vaccination requirements.
More: Flying blind through the pandemic: what the 100,000 mark says about the omicron wave