The Minister of Health has an urgent appeal to the federal states.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin In view of the rising Corona autumn and winter wave, Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has called on the federal states to tighten their protective measures.
With the Infection Protection Act, the federal states were able to take protective measures and “in particular to introduce the obligation to wear masks indoors,” said Lauterbach during the government survey in the Bundestag on Wednesday. The countries should take their responsibility.
“We are currently seeing a sharp increase in the number of cases,” said the SPD politician. “But I hear that the countries are currently discussing these measures.”
In Berlin, for example, masks could soon be compulsory again in shops, museums and other public buildings. Health Senator Ulrike Gote (Greens) wants to propose the introduction to the Senate next week. In Saarland, a government spokesman announced on Tuesday that the government would announce new decisions on corona measures “very promptly”.
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Lauterbach repeated that one is at the beginning of an autumn and winter wave, but is very well prepared. Among other things, the minister referred to adapted vaccines and medicines for particularly vulnerable groups.
Corona wave is picking up speed
On Wednesday, 1,651 patients with a corona infection were registered in the intensive care units of the hospitals. This is the highest level since mid-April this year. At the same time, the number of free intensive care beds reported by the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) is only 2430.
next wave
1651
Corona patients
were registered in the intensive care units of the hospitals on Wednesday. This is the highest level since mid-April.
The other indicators also show that the corona wave is picking up speed in autumn, as expected. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 136,748 new infections on Wednesday. The seven-day incidence rose to 799.9 from 787.5 the previous day.
The hospitalization rate, which indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants are admitted to hospitals in a week, has also risen very significantly: According to the RKI, the value on Tuesday was 11.84. The numbers have been significantly higher in the past few days than in any other phase of the pandemic since 2020.
The German Hospital Society therefore spoke out on Wednesday for the reintroduction of stricter protective measures such as the obligation to wear masks indoors. The federal states are asked to check the infection situation in the regions and then, if necessary, to take measures from the toolbox offered by the Infection Protection Act, said CEO Gerald Gass.
The mask requirement is an effective measure to avoid mass infections indoors, where more people come together without distance. “In this respect, yes, where there are high incidences and a high rate of infection, it is right that politicians are examining this and then taking these measures if necessary,” said Gass.
There are currently more corona-positive patients in the clinics than at the peak of the summer wave. “We have an increase of 50 percent compared to the previous week, that’s quite a dynamic that we’re experiencing there,” he warned. The patients are mostly in normal wards and often do not come to the hospital because of severe Covid symptoms, but with a corona infection. “But of course they cause a lot of extra work in the hospital.”
With agency material.
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