Lauterbach rejects "minister of fear" criticism and comments on possible relaxation

The new corona infections are still at a high level. According to Karl Lauterbach, there can be no quick loosening. He puts critics in their place. The news ticker.

Update from February 11, 9:55 p.m.: Stiko has only recently recommended the new protein-based vaccine. Now Novavax has also been tested on young people. The effectiveness is surprising.

Update from February 11, 5:35 p.m .: The SPD politician apparently cannot fully understand the criticism that Health Minister Lauterbach is currently countering for his strict Corona course. Only on Thursday did Hamburg’s CDU chairman, Christoph Ploß , call Lauterbach a “minister of fear”. “With all due respect, the assessment of the Bild newspaper as to whether I am a minister of fear or not is irrelevant to me. I have to work with the facts and I have to protect the people who are also entrusted to me,” said the health minister in a press statement on Friday.

The minister once again referred to the current record number of infected people and between 150 and 200 deaths every day. With a view to the federal-state summit on Wednesday, he sees “that we need a loosening perspective”, but there is no scope for quick relaxation of measures.

Lauterbach also commented on the criticism on Twitter. After the press conference on Thursday, he wrote: “How much protest is being made today when you say what you don’t like to hear, but the obvious: if our incidence were to rise significantly, we would have significantly more deaths.” “Wishful thinking” about Omicron doesn’t help either .

Omicron wave spills over Germany – this is what it looks like in the intensive care units

Update from February 11, 4 p.m.: According to the German Hospital Society, the omicron variant of the corona virus will no longer overload German intensive care units, but it remains dangerous.

Update from February 11, 3 p.m .: Investigators searched seven apartments in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate on suspicion of fake vaccination cards. The responsible investigators from Darmstadt announced on Friday that 14 forged passports, two vaccination certificates, mobile phones, computers and a blank gun were seized. In addition, a payment arrest warrant in the amount of 970 euros was enforced against a 47-year-old for violating the Residence Act. The suspects are men between the ages of 17 and 28. A total of around 50 officers searched six apartments in Hesse and one in Bad-Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate on Thursday. The accused are at large.

Update from February 11, 2 p.m.: It is not uncommon for slight side effects to occur after a corona vaccination, but what side effects have been registered in children and adolescents so far?

Update from February 11, 11:40 a.m .: Karl Lauterbach predicted up to 500 deaths a day if the corona measures were relaxed too quickly. According to virologist Kekulé, an important detail is missing here.

Update from February 11, 11:30 a.m .: The pace of corona vaccinations in Germany continues to decrease. 231,000 doses were administered on Thursday, significantly fewer than on a Thursday in previous weeks, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute on Friday. At least 45.9 million people, or 55.2 percent of the population, have received a booster shot to date. 62.1 million people or 74.7 percent of the population have received basic protection, which usually requires two injections. 63.3 million people, or 76.1 percent of the population, have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

A large group of 19.9 million people remain unvaccinated. This corresponds to 23.9 percent of the population. However, no vaccine has been approved for four million of them (4.8 percent) because they are four years old or younger.

Corona numbers continue to rise: when will the omicron wave flatten out? Expert calculates specific time

Update from February 11, 10.45 a.m .: The current corona numbers go beyond any previous dimension, for days the Robert Koch Institute has been reporting more than 200,000 new infections every day. The RKI also recorded around 240,000 new cases on Friday, February 11 (see update from February 11, 6:09 a.m.). If the physicist corona modeler Dirk Brockmann has his way, the peak of the omicron wave should be reached soon.

“The course of this omicron wave is now peaking and we expect that the maximum will then be reached in the next few days,” said the professor at Berlin’s Humboldt University on Friday morning on Deutschlandfunk . Brockmann pointed out that Omicron has a classic course that is reminiscent of other corona waves. After exponential growth, you can see “that the increase is slowly declining. This means that the numbers are still increasing, but they are decreasing”. According to his forecasts, the maximum was reached in mid-February, said the physicist, who models infectious diseases.

Regarding possible loosening, he said that it would be possible soon, but caution was advised. “If you look at the dynamics of this pandemic, you know to be patient until the numbers come back down.” Therefore, politics should not “relax into the falling number of cases, because that only delays”. In the past it has been seen that the pandemic has always been good for surprises. As it became known on Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is actually planning to start with the first opening steps.

Update from February 11, 10.30 a.m .: Corona is also being investigated in the sewage system. New findings from New York are now attracting increased attention, but researchers are puzzled. Now a rat theory comes into focus.

Corona in Germany: RKI reports 240,000 new infections – incidence at a new high

Update from February 11, 6:09 a.m .: In the past 24 hours, 240,172 new corona infections and 226 deaths have been reported at the Robert Koch Institute. That’s according to the data on Friday morning. The incidence reaches a new high of 1472.2.

However, the corona numbers only have limited significance. Many health authorities are at the limit. The number of unreported cases of corona cases is large. The PCR test capacity is limited. The Ministry of Health in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has already questioned the complete recording. The reporting procedure for new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is too complex.

According to experts, it is much more important to keep an eye on the situation in the hospitals. The hospitalization incidence rose to 6.23 on Thursday (Wednesday: 6.07). These may also include people with a positive corona test who have another main illness. There are currently 2,351 Covid 19 patients in the intensive care units in Germany. Of these, 1,167 must be artificially ventilated. This emerges from the data of the DIVI intensive care register.

Update from February 10, 10:37 p.m .: The load on normal wards in hospitals is increasing, as is the number of doctor visits due to Covid diseases. On the other hand, the situation in the intensive care units is more relaxed than in previous corona waves (see update at 7:31 p.m.) . The omicron wave triggers lighter gradients, but clearly has Germany under control.

As the RKI reports in its latest weekly report, 97.7 percent of infections can now be traced back to the omicron variant and its sub-type*. “Other variants, such as the delta variant recently, have been almost completely suppressed and are currently only detected to a very small extent,” says the RKI.

Member of the Expert Council sees the end of Corona: is there a “super summer” coming?

Update from February 10, 8:35 p.m .: The right time for easing is currently being discussed again and again. Karl Lauterbach considers openings before Easter likely. The intensive care physician Christian Karagiannidis gives hope. He sees the end of the corona pandemic within reach. “I think overall we are at the end of a marathon,” he said on Thursday on SWR . “We notice that impatience is growing incredibly, which I don’t quite understand when you’ve already reached kilometer 41 and actually have the goal in mind.”

Karagiannidis, who is also a member of the government’s Corona Expert Council, expressed hope for “a very good spring and a super summer”. What is important now, however, is a thorough review of what has happened in the past two years. “We should learn lessons from this, because we will face significant challenges next winter.”

The burden in hospitals is increasing: more and more corona patients in normal wards

Update from February 10, 7:31 p.m .: While the situation in the intensive care units is currently more relaxed than in previous waves, the load on the normal wards continues to increase. A new phenomenon in the omicron wave. As an overview by the German Hospital Society (DKG) shows, 17,940 patients who tested positive for corona were being treated in the hospital on Wednesday (February 9). 15,542 of them on the normal wards. That’s 21.5 percent more than the week before. 2389 people with Corona were treated in intensive care units (3.8 percent more than in the previous week). In the winter of 2020/21, the number of corona intensive care patients was twice as high at the peak – up to 5800, according to the DKG.

It is important to note that the data does not differentiate whether patients are hospitalized for COVID infection or whether the patient is hospitalized for another treatment but has been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Mathematician calculates time for corona loosening: “Three weeks would be too early”

Update from February 10, 5:09 p.m .: When can we relax? Mathematician Kristan Schneider has dealt with a forecast for the right time for easing. The mathematician presents various opening scenarios and their consequences at focus.de . However, the scientist, who teaches statistics and mathematics at the Mittweida University of Applied Sciences, points out that many factors at Omikron are still unclear. For example, a few sunny days would currently have a major impact on the infection process.

The mathematician predicts the peak of the fifth corona wave for the beginning of March. However, this date could easily be pushed forward or backward. Such models are not more precise, he admits to the news portal.

“Loosening from March 15 makes sense,” Schneider concludes. A Freedom Day in mid-May (May 15) is the most reasonable. From his simulations it can be deduced that after a clear downward trend that lasted for two to three weeks, Germany could gradually scale back the measures. If this trend continues, further easing would be possible.

“An easing from March 5th would be too early and would happen at the peak of the infection process and turn the downward trend into an upward trend,” warns the mathematician Schneiders. Minister of Health Lauterbach promised easing “well before Easter”. Easter falls on April 17 this year.

Update from February 10, 4:15 p.m .: Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach expects a debate on easing at the next federal and state corona summit. It is clear that there must also be a discussion about easing on Wednesday, said the SPD politician on Thursday at the sidelines of an EU meeting in Grenoble, France. At the same time, he warned that one should “not relax too quickly”. “We still have increasing numbers of cases, like we’ve never had before.” If you relax so much that the number of cases increases significantly, then you are unnecessarily prolonging the pandemic. This is neither good for the economy nor for health.

Bundestag also shortens recovered status for MPs

Update from February 10, 3:26 p.m .: The shortened convalescent status from six to three months from next week should also apply to the members of the German Bundestag. This was announced by the Bundestag administration on Thursday. Those who have recovered without an additional vaccination are now only granted access up to a maximum of 90 days after the positive test result; previously the period had been 180 days. The Bundestag is thus also implementing the reduction in the status of those who have recovered, which was surprisingly carried out by the Robert Koch Institute in January.

Update from February 10, 2 p.m .: The Novavax vaccine will soon be available in Germany. Side effects and vaccination reactions are similar to other corona vaccines. However, a certain group should avoid the protein vaccine from the US pharmaceutical company Novavax*.

Quarantine or corona: the number of cases among schoolchildren is increasing

Update from February 10, 1:45 p.m .: The number of corona and quarantine cases in schools has continued to rise. Around six percent of the students were in quarantine across Germany last week or were themselves infected with Corona. This was announced by the Conference of Ministers of Education on Thursday. According to this, 275,000 schoolchildren were known to have corona infections (previous week 226,000). In addition, 273,000 were in quarantine (previous week 270,000).

The figures are based on feedback from the federal states and only provide a rough overview because not all states collect complete figures. There is no data on quarantine cases from Hamburg and Lower Saxony. There were holidays in Berlin and Brandenburg last week.

Vaccination rate in Germany – 55 percent of the German population has now been boosted

Update from February 10, 1:09 p.m .: 55 percent of the German population is boosted. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Thursday that at least 45.7 million people have received a booster vaccination. There are big differences between the federal states. Schleswig-Holstein is still at the top, where 63.3 percent of people have already received a booster. Saxony brings up the rear with 44.6 percent.

Percentage of underage intensive care patients higher than ever

Update from February 10, 11:55 a.m .: The corona numbers in Germany continue to rise, and the RKI reported another record incidence (see original report below). The situation in the intensive care units also seems to be tending upwards, with the RKI reporting an increase in the incidence of hospitalization. The institute gave the value on Wednesday as 6.02, on Tuesday it was calculated as 5.60. As ntv now reports, there are currently more minors in intensive care units nationwide than ever before.

Accordingly, the highest proportion in the intensive care units is currently covered by the age group of 60 to 69 year olds. The age group up to 17 years is relatively low at 2.1 percent. But as ntv reports, the proportion of this affected group in the intensive care units during the pandemic has never been as high as it is currently.

Corona: Austria is planning easing – the date has probably already been set

Update from February 10, 11:30 a.m .: Austria is planning a large-scale relaxation of corona measures in many areas. The date for this has probably already been set.

Update from February 10, 9:20 a.m .: A statement by Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach about a sharp increase in the number of corona deaths if the restrictions were relaxed has caused criticism. Ethics Council member Stephan Rixen told the ZDFheute.de portal on Wednesday that “threat scenarios in the dark could not justify restrictions on fundamental rights”. Hamburg’s CDU chairman Christoph Ploß called Lauterbach a “minister of fear” at Bild .

On Tuesday evening on ZDF , Lauterbach again warned against premature relaxation of the corona measures. If Germany were to follow Israel’s path with no measures, Germany would have a higher death rate. “I just can’t imagine that we would be in a situation so late in the pandemic where we have good vaccinations, where we would then have 400, 500 deaths a day,” said the Minister of Health.

When asked by ZDFheute.de , the Federal Ministry of Health and the Robert Koch Institute did not want to provide any information on Wednesday on which exact data and assumptions the minister’s calculations were based.

Thorsten Lehr, head of the Covid 19 simulator at Saarland University, told ZDFheute.de that 500 corona deaths per day were possible under certain conditions: “According to our simulations, 400 to 500 deaths per day are in 7 days -Cut possible if peak incidences are above 3,500 to 4,000.”

Original notification from February 10, 2022: Berlin – The Corona* numbers continue to rise and the incidence has also reached a new high. According to the Robert Koch Institute, almost 250,000 people have tested positive for the corona virus in the past 24 hours. However, the numbers are only of limited significance, and experts are already assuming a much higher rate of infection.

Corona in Germany: RKI reports almost 250,000 new infections – two other values are increasing rapidly

With a nationwide seven-day incidence of 1465.4, the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Thursday, February 10, 2022, reached a new previous record. For comparison: the day before the value was 1450.8, a week ago it was 1283.2 (previous month: 362.7). And the number of new infections climbs again over 200,000, the RKI counted a total of 247,862 new corona infections on Thursday. A week ago there were 236,120 infections.

However, the figures are only of limited significance. Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. Test capacities and health authorities are at the limit in many places, contacts are only traced to a limited extent. In addition, the planned prioritization of PCR tests is likely to increase the number of people who no longer have their infection confirmed by a PCR test – so that it is not included in the official statistics.

Corona: The number of deaths and the incidence of hospitalization are also increasing sharply

The number of deaths has risen sharply compared to the previous week. According to the new information, 238 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 164 deaths. And the number of corona-infected patients who came to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days is rising sharply, the RKI gave the value on Wednesday at 6.02 (Tuesday: 5.60). These may also include people with a positive corona test who have another main illness. *Merkur.de and tz.de are offered by IPPEN.MEDIA

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