State of emergency in Bavaria – Merkel calls for a federal-state summit

Situation in the clinics

In some districts of Bavaria and Thuringia, significantly more than half of the intensive care beds are occupied by corona patients.

(Photo: dpa)

Berlin In view of the spreading fourth wave of the corona pandemic, calls for rapid and coordinated action between the countries are getting louder. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) campaigned for a 2G rule on Wednesday, according to which only those who have been vaccinated and recovered are allowed to participate in public life.

“I think we should come to an understanding across Germany that we will not end up with a patchwork quilt again,” said the current chairman of the Prime Minister’s Conference on Deutschlandfunk.

Like Wüst, the Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) also called for an early federal-state meeting on the corona situation. The pandemic is spreading in a dramatic way and has “no regard for political processes or transition periods,” said government spokesman Steffen Seibert with a view to the coalition negotiations on a new government. A quick and uniform response is required.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported on Wednesday with 39,676 new infections, the highest daily value since the beginning of the pandemic – 19,000 more than a week ago. The seven-day incidence, which indicates how many people become infected per 100,000 population within a week, rose significantly to 232.1 from 213.7 the previous day.

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The situation is developing most dramatically in parts of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia, where the incidence is more than 700. The Rottal-Inn district has the top value with 1104. Because capacity in the intensive care units is becoming scarce, Bavaria has now declared a disaster.

According to the State Chancellery, this allows a coordinated approach by all authorities, agencies and organizations involved in disaster control, for example to facilitate the transfer of patients from overburdened clinics.

The number of corona patients continues to rise

According to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (Divi), the number of corona patients in intensive care units has risen to 2,732 nationwide. In some districts of Bavaria and Thuringia, significantly more than half of the intensive care beds are occupied by Covid patients.

Given the situation, a majority of citizens are in favor of only allowing those who have been vaccinated and recovered to access restaurants or public events. In a Civey survey for the broadcaster “Welt”, 61 percent of those questioned were in favor of a nationwide 2G regulation.

Saxony was the first federal state to introduce it at the beginning of the week – to the displeasure of the catering industry. In Bavaria, the 2G regulation applies to a large extent, but a negative PCR test is sufficient for a visit to the restaurant or the hairdresser. In Baden-Württemberg, the 2G rule comes into force when the state’s intensive care units have reached 390 Covid patients. On Wednesday there were 346.

Little was heard on Wednesday from the SPD, Greens and FDP, who are negotiating a traffic light coalition. You want to pass an amendment to the Infection Protection Act in the Bundestag this week.

The plan is to let the “epidemic situation of national scope” expire on November 25th, but at the same time to provide the countries with a uniform catalog of measures to combat the pandemic. Among other things, a 3G regulation at the workplace and the reintroduction of free citizen tests are planned.

Green expert Janosch Dahmen wrote on Twitter that a 2G regulation would be important to contain the fourth wave. SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach tweeted with a view to the demands for a federal-state round: “The federal states demand that the federal government finally act. Party politics that costs time. ”According to Lauterbach, every federal state can and should immediately decide on 2G in the current emergency situation and strictly control it. “We’re just wasting time.”

More: Macron wants to prevent a new corona wave in France.

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