18:21: Von der Leyen wants to untie the EU budget for sovereignty funds
According to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Germany and other EU countries should consider a far-reaching review of the EU’s long-term budget. A “new look” at the budget would also open the door to the creation of a sovereignty fund, von der Leyen said today in Brussels. The current budget for the period 2021 to the end of 2027 was decided at a time when no one had any idea of the impending crisis. As the EU’s largest net payer, Germany has so far been staunchly against an increase in the EU budget for the years 2021-2027, which was agreed in extremely difficult negotiations. The same goes for a new debt-financed EU program modeled on the Corona development fund.
5.40pm: Masks should also be mandatory on buses and trains in Schleswig-Holstein
The mask requirement on buses and trains should also drop in Schleswig-Holstein at the turn of the year. “We are continuously moving towards normality,” Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) said on Monday after consultations between his government and the Corona Expert Council. Instead of the mask obligation, the state government has now recommended wearing a mask for people belonging to risk groups who are in close contact with risk groups and for people with cold symptoms.
4.35pm: Expert council skeptical of new patchwork of corona rules
The Corona Expert Council of the federal government currently considers the federal guidelines for the fight against pandemics adequate, but criticizes the different implementation of the measures under the sovereignty of the federal states. “It goes without saying that basically we would be pleased if there were more or less uniform federal regulations. Because it is difficult to communicate that we have different rules when we move from one federal state to another,” commission chairman Heyo Kroemer said in Schwerin on Monday. For example, Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt have abolished the obligation to wear masks in local transport, and in some countries there is no longer a requirement to isolate people with Covid 19 illnesses. Kroemer, CEO of the Berlin Charité, he also referred to the often tense staff situation, especially in hospitals, nurseries and schools due to sick leave.
4.20 p.m.: Huml comments on corona protective masks in the commission of inquiry
The more detailed the inquiries to Melanie Huml became in the commission of inquiry into the purchase of corona protective masks, the more often the former health minister lacked recollections. The CSU politician said in his questioning to the mask committee of the Bavarian state parliament on Monday that politicians and businessmen had enriched themselves during the pandemic through trade in protective masks. She is still upset today.
Huml describes it as follows during her interrogations virtually all day: she didn’t want to be briefed on all the procurement details, but before cabinet meetings, crisis team meetings, in state parliament, “of course” she kept questioning the situation. At the beginning of the pandemic, she certainly “asked more intensely”, but deep down she trusted the specialist level.
4.05pm: End of zero Covid policy in China leads to rapid increase in the number of infections
The abrupt end of China’s strict zero-Covid strategy is causing the number of infections to skyrocket. In Beijing alone, 22,000 patients had visited the capital’s hospitals the day before, spokesman for the city’s health commission, Li Ang, said on Monday. According to media reports, clinics in smaller cities are completely overwhelmed. However, the authorities continue to relax: the most important tracking app will be deactivated on Tuesday. According to the Health Commission spokesman, the number of patients with flu-like symptoms and fever has increased 16-fold compared to last week. The number of emergency calls has also increased significantly.
15.10: AfD faction calls for suspension of corona vaccinations
In view of the diagnostic data from the National Association of Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), the AfD parliamentary group has called for the suspension of coronavirus vaccinations. The parliamentary group’s health policy spokesman, Martin Sichert, presented the data he had requested from the KBV on Monday in Berlin. According to this, there have been significantly more deaths since the first quarter of 2021 with the causes of death “sudden death” and “other imprecise or unspecified causes of death” and “death within less than 24 hours of symptom onset, without stated otherwise.” The KBV stressed that the data cannot be used to establish a connection between vaccinations and deaths.
2.30pm: Nurses without proof of successful vaccination against activity ban
An urgent application against the ban on the activity of a nurse without proof of corona vaccination was granted before the Saarland Administrative Court. On the one hand, the institute-related compulsory vaccination expires at the end of the year, on the other hand, the competent health authority did not take sufficient account of the security of supply, the Saarlouis court announced on Monday. The ordered ban does not stand up to legal scrutiny. The judge then ordered the suspensive effect of the opposition.
14:10: Majority against loosening of corona rules
Most people in Germany are still worried about Corona and oppose the easing of the Corona measures. According to a survey conducted as part of the European Covid Survey (ECOS) research project, 63% of respondents would like masks to be mandatory on public transport, as reported by the Hamburg Center for Health Economics (HCHE) of the Universität Hamburg. Furthermore, 68% want to keep the isolation obligation in case of infection, 70% support the obligation to wear masks in clinics for patients and guests and 58% want vaccinations to be mandatory for medical staff. In principle, approval of the measures in West Germany is higher than in East Germany, according to the survey representative in eight European countries.
1.50pm: Health Minister Holetschek calls for flu vaccination
Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU), together with associations of doctors and pharmacists, have called for people to be vaccinated against flu before Christmas. This winter, a very severe cold snap will meet a flu wave that started earlier and is stronger than in previous years, Holetschek said in Munich on Monday. “Those who get vaccinated before Christmas protect themselves well from a serious course of an infection,” said the Minister of Health. In severe cases, for example, pneumonia or inflammation of the heart muscle could occur. The president of the Bavarian Pharmacists’ Association, Hans-Peter Hubmann, added that the fewer flu patients there are, the better for the capacities of doctors and hospitals. “who currently, for example, have their hands full treating adults with respiratory diseases or children with the RS virus”.
1.25pm: The number of doctor visits has increased significantly
After some sharp declines from the corona pandemic, patients have been visiting a doctor’s practice in Germany more frequently this year. Numerous doctor visits in all specialist medical groups in the first quarter led to an increase in the number of cases by 4.8% compared to the first quarter of the pre-corona year 2019. This is shown by the new trend report of the Central Institute for Health Insurance Physician Care (Zi) law, which the institute released on Monday in Berlin. In the second quarter there was an increase of 0.3%.
In May, the policyholder visited one of the approximately 100,000 doctor’s practices in Germany more than 64 million times. As of May 2021, there were nearly 61 million cases. In the first Corona year 2020 there were only 54 million outpatient doctor visits between the coast and the Alps. In May 2019, before the corona pandemic, there were almost 64 million doctor visits.
In the first quarter of 2022, there was a 3.7 percent increase in family doctor visits compared to the first three months of the pre-Corona year 2019. In the second quarter, there was an increase of 1.9 percent .
12.30 p.m.: Chinese expert warns of explosion of corona cases
Leading Covid expert Zhong Nanshan has warned of an explosion in the number of corona cases in China. He stressed that the latest officially reported drop in cases does not reflect reality, as many people are no longer being tested. In fact, the omicron variant is spreading rapidly across the country, state media Zhong Nanshan warned.
The Chinese leadership’s quick about-face could mean that the country is now facing a surge in coronavirus cases for which it is ill-prepared: Millions of elderly people are still not fully vaccinated and underfunded hospitals are unable to handle large numbers of patients to be admitted. On average, one bed in the intensive care unit is available for 10,000 patients, National Health Commission representative Jiao Yahui warned last week.
