Omikron wave in Europe: Italy from Saturday high risk area – other countries new on the list

The corona incidence is rising again slightly. However, the figures are still incomplete due to the holidays. Italy will be a high-risk area from Saturday. The news ticker.

Update from December 30th, 11:34 a.m .: The federal government and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) identify new high-risk areas as of January 1st: Italy and Canada are now on the list of high-risk areas alongside Malta and San Marino. The holiday island of Mauritius was deleted from the list. The classifications apply from Saturday at midnight. What then applies, as well as an overview of all virus variant areas and high-risk areas can also be found here.

Update from December 30th, 9.21 a.m .: The new Omikron variant could hit Germany with full force. Staff shortages are feared in the health care system, the police and the fire brigade. The Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) therefore believes that people who have been vaccinated three times can be exempted from the corona quarantine. “If a lot of people are infected and have to be quarantined, there is a risk that we will have problems maintaining the critical infrastructure,” Holetschek told the news portal Watson on Wednesday.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) currently recommends that if infected with the Omikron variant, those infected and their contact persons should isolate themselves or go into quarantine for 14 days. This also includes those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) confirmed on Wednesday evening in the ARD “Tagesthemen” that there were considerations about the future quarantine duration. Conclusions should be drawn from the spread of the omicron variant, he said.

He now wants to “prepare properly”, said Lauterbach. “A quick shot is wrong.” The minister pointed out that the Federal Government’s Expert Council was dealing with the situation, as was the RKI. “We will certainly be able to submit good proposals in the next week, at the latest.” A new federal-state meeting on the situation has already been scheduled for January 7th.

Update from December 30th, 6.55 a.m.: According to the Robert Koch Institute, the 7-day incidence in Germany is 207.4 on Thursday morning. The day before the nationwide value was 205.5, a week ago it was 280.3. The health authorities in Germany reported 42,770 new corona infections and 383 further deaths to the RKI within one day. This is evident from the figures that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 05.15 a.m. The RKI points out that the figures may still be incomplete due to the delays caused by the Christmas holidays.

Meanwhile, there is a lively political debate about schools. Due to the rapidly expanding Omikron variant, experts are now calling for a quick plan on how to deal with it after the Christmas holidays. The aim should be to avoid nationwide school closings, it was said from politicians.

Update from December 29, 6.44 p.m.: The federal government has provided more clarity with booster vaccinations for children and adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age. “Regardless of the recommendations” of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), this age group has a fundamental right to booster vaccinations, according to a letter from Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) to the federal states.

The paper, which was sent on Monday (December 27), affirmed that Biontech’s corona vaccine should be used for children and adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age. In the event of vaccination damage, the federal government guarantees a claim to care provided that an approved mRNA vaccine such as Biontech was used for this group of people. The Stiko has recently been sharply criticized – sometimes doctors deviate from recommendations anyway *.

Lauterbach: Corona incidence in Germany two to three times higher than stated

Update from December 29, 3:24 p.m.: Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach assesses the current corona infection situation much more critically than the reporting figures show. It can be assumed that the actual incidence in Germany is currently two to three times as high as reported, said the SPD politician on Wednesday in Berlin.

A significant increase in cases of the new, more contagious virus variant Omikron, which is causing concern, can also be seen. The minister appealed to all citizens to spend New Year’s Eve in such a way that no new chains of infection arise. “Please celebrate in a very small group.” The number of cases reported by the health authorities underestimated the existing risk.

Work is currently being carried out to obtain better data, explained Lauterbach. He is certain that the already planned Prime Minister’s Conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on January 7th will have “a solid data base that is perfectly adequate for these purposes”.

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Corona: RKI does not expect really reliable data again until January 10th

Update from December 29th, 2:48 p.m.: The RKI does not expect really reliable data on infection events in Germany until around January 10th. “We are assuming that diagnostic and test behavior towards the end of the first week of January will return to the level of the last few weeks and that the data in the second week of January will be comparable to the data of the last few weeks,” said the Robert Koch Institute of the dpa With. An exact day cannot be determined because of the regionally different winter holidays. In the case numbers of the past few days, the RKI pointed out that less test and reporting activity can be expected during the holidays and at the turn of the year.

There are gaps in the health authorities, fewer test centers are open, fewer people are likely to be tested and tests in schools are also no longer available during the holidays. Therefore, the officially reported number of cases currently only shows an incomplete picture of the corona situation in Germany.

Again strong growth: Omikron is spreading faster and faster – opaque data is a cause for concern

Update from December 29, 12:32 p.m.: According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the number of reliably proven and probable Omikron cases in Germany has again increased significantly. 13,129 cases would now be assigned to the new Corona variant, 26 percent more than the day before, according to an RKI overview page on Wednesday (data as of December 29).

The number refers to cases in November and December. How quickly Omikron spreads can be seen from the fact that most of the records with 7632 come from the previous week (previous week: 3040). The increase indicates with relative certainty that Omikron is playing an ever greater role in the infection process in Germany, said the modeler Dirk Brockmann from the Humboldt University of Berlin of the German Press Agency.

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In Hamburg and Bremen, the variant already plays a major role. One should not be lulled into a false sense of security from the data on the occurrence of infections, which are currently only partially meaningful due to fewer tests and reports, the development in other countries is impressive. “It can suddenly start very quickly and then very strongly.”

A graph from the RKI on the development over time shows a steep increase in the numbers reported weekly in connection with Omikron. For the current week, the RKI expects a “high number of new and late registrations”. According to the RKI, the information relates to evidence based on complete genetic analyzes as well as laboratory diagnostic suspicions based on variant-specific PCR tests. In Germany only a small part of the positive samples are examined for variants.

Corona in Germany: Thuringian Minister of Education wants to change the Infection Protection Act

Update from December 29, 10:57 a.m.: The Thuringian Minister of Education Helmut Holter (left) has spoken out in favor of a change in the Federal Infection Protection Act to the German Press Agency in order to enable distance teaching across the board at schools. He expects the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) to come to an understanding and formulate new recommendations before the next call by the heads of government from the federal and state levels on January 7th.

“The situation has simply changed and that is why we in the KMK also need a new assessment of the situation,” said Holter. He is convinced that the education sector must react to Omikron. “In the end we run the risk that the schools will be empty because children and adults are no longer there, because they are either unfortunately sick, infected and are in quarantine,” he said. Holter wishes that the KMK would position itself in such a way that comprehensive distance teaching becomes possible. This means that the Federal Infection Protection Act would have to be changed accordingly.

Holter had already announced before the Christmas holidays for Thuringia that the schools would initially start nationwide in distance teaching in January. Now his ministry had to backtrack because the Federal Infection Protection Act does not currently provide for such comprehensive distance teaching. Instead, the Thuringian schools should evaluate the infection situation themselves and decide whether to switch to distance learning.

In Holter’s opinion, a prime ministerial conference on January 7th was too late in view of the prognoses for the Omikron variant. It is about being prepared to be able to ward off a fifth wave. “Everyone knows that the omicron wave is coming. At the moment, what’s going on at the federal level is all too late for me. “

Update from December 29, 6:30 a.m.: At the end of the year, the seven-day incidence continues to fall nationwide. After the value on Tuesday was 215.6, it was only 205.5 on Wednesday. A week ago the value was 289.0. However, given the low level of testing and reporting activity during the holidays, the data may provide an incomplete picture.

As the Robert Koch Institute also reports, 40,043 new corona infections were registered within 24 hours. The RKI has counted 7,066,412 detected infections with the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. In addition, a further 414 deaths in connection with a corona infection were reported, the number of people who died of or with the involvement of a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 111,219.

In the video: Corona – Health Minister Lauterbach against punishment for unvaccinated people

Corona pandemic in Germany: Berlin mayor does not rule out lockdown in the capital

Update from December 28th, 5.40 p.m.: In the days around Christmas there were several demos against the coronavirus measures across Germany. During a so-called Corona walk in Immenstadt * in the Bavarian district of Oberallgäu, a couple left their three and five-year-old children in the car – at around three degrees and unsupervised. According to the police, a passer-by discovered the siblings and informed officers on a police patrol. The incident was reported to the youth welfare office.

Update from December 28, 5:15 p.m.: Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) does not rule out a corona lockdown in the capital with its around 3.7 million inhabitants. “Our task as a politician is to react very, very quickly to the changing situation,” said the SPD politician after visiting an intensive care unit at the Charité in Berlin-Mitte. “I still have the attitude that we are not yet – even after today’s conversation – at the point for a lockdown,” said Giffey. we have to react. “

Corona pandemic in Germany: Federal government and Karl Lauterbach (SPD) procure Paxlovid

Update from December 28, 5:05 p.m.: In large quantities: The Federal Government and Karl Lauterbach (SPD) are procuring the new drug Paxlovid against severe courses of Covid-19 *. The Minister of Health has high hopes for the active ingredient against Corona. And not only that.

Update from December 28, 4:45 p.m .: Within one day, the number of reliably proven and probable Omikron cases in Germany that were transmitted to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) rose sharply. 10,443 cases would now be assigned to the new Corona variant, 45 percent more than the day before, according to an RKI overview page this Tuesday (data as of December 28). The number refers to cases in November and December, most of the evidence comes from the previous week with 6257 (previous week: 2904).

Corona pandemic in Germany: Omikron variant is omnipresent in the debate

First report from December 28th : Munich / Hamburg – What kind of complicated terms did people in Germany not get to know in the omnipresent corona pandemic. The latest technical term that can be heard everywhere is: Omicron. This describes a particularly contagious variant of the coronavirus *, which, according to various experts, will soon dominate the Covid infection process. Nationwide. And across Europe.

In a German city with a population of over a million, the new mutation of the virus shortly before New Year’s Eve is apparently more widespread than elsewhere. At least this is what the latest health authorities’ surveys suggest.

Corona pandemic in Germany: Omikron variant is particularly widespread in Hamburg

We are talking about the Hanseatic city of Hamburg with around 1.9 million inhabitants. The Morgenpost (Mopo) writes of 169 confirmed cases as of December 28th. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) *, at this point in time there were already 1318 suspected cases of infection with the variant.

In relation to the number of inhabitants, the Omikron variant * is more widespread in the metropolis than in any other federal state, the report continues. The 7-day incidence * was 345.9 at the same time. Up until a few weeks ago, Germany’s second largest city in terms of population was considered a region with a comparatively low level of infection. But that was done between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. As is so often the case in the pandemic, it happened very quickly.

Follow the most important news and information on the coronavirus pandemic in Germany here in the news ticker . (pm) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA