Dhe corona virus continues to spread in Germany: In Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, a total of ten people have tested positive for the virus. Against the background of the new cases, it is “questionable” whether the previous strategy of the authorities – that is, to limit the virus and interrupt the infection chains, said Health Minister Jens Spahn. It has been shown that the “infection chains are sometimes not understandable,” said Spahn. “That is the new quality.” He added: “The likelihood that this epidemic will pass Germany will not arise.”
The federal government has set up a crisis team. The main thing is to interrupt the infection chains in and to Germany, said Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.
Who are the patients and how are they?
The state of the first coronavirus patient in North Rhine-Westphalia is still critical. On Monday, the 47-year-old with symptoms of severe pneumonia was admitted to a hospital in Erkelenz in the district of Heinsberg near Aachen and isolated in the intensive care unit. On Wednesday night he was brought to the University Hospital in Düsseldorf. The man has a pre-existing condition.
His 46-year-old wife is also infected. She was a kindergarten teacher, said the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Health Karl-Josef Laumann. Both patients were in the University Hospital Düsseldorf. The two have two school-age children who currently have no symptoms, as Laumann said in Düsseldorf on Wednesday.
According to district administrator Stephan Pusch (CDU), the infected had an “infinite number of contacts” with other people in the past 10 to 14 days. According to Laumann, they had – already contagious – participated in social life during the carnival season. Pusch said in Düsseldorf on Wednesday that it was now a matter of “breaking the chains of infection”.
The approximately 300 visitors to the carnival event were asked to report to the authorities. All visitors and their families would have to go into quarantine at home for 14 days, the NRW Ministry of Health announced on Thursday night.
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“We cannot guarantee that we will get the infection chains cut”
North Rhine-Westphalia has closed schools and kindergartens as a measure against the spread of the coronavirus. However, even NRW Minister of Health Karl-Josef Laumann admitted that the success of this measure is questionable.
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Source: WELT / Matthias Heinrich
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On Wednesday evening, the Heinsberg district reported that three other contact persons of the couple had become infected. “Everyone shows flu symptoms and are currently at home,” it said in the message. According to the current status, inpatient treatment in the hospital is not necessary.
Among other things, this involves an employee of the seriously ill 47-year-old and her partner. According to the city of Mönchengladbach, the virus had also been detected by a doctor. The doctor works in a hospital in Mönchengladbach.
According to current knowledge, the doctor had attended a carnival event in the Heinsberg district, at which contact persons of the seriously ill man from Gangelt were said to have been present. He was in contact with twelve patients. How many employees had contact with him, is still being determined, said a clinic spokesman on Thursday on request. They would then be tested for the virus and placed in quarantine at home.
Last week, the seriously ill, with whom the three newly infected had contact, had been treated at the Cologne University Hospital. After the health department was informed on Tuesday evening that the man had been diagnosed with the coronavirus, it was determined who came into contact with the patient. The virus has not been detected in more than 40 people. Until the final all-clear, due to the theoretical incubation period, the end of the two-week isolation had to be waited for, the city said on Thursday night.
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According to Pusch, the sick man from NRW had contact with an acquaintance who had been in China recently on business. The “Aachener Zeitung” reported. At first, Pusch could not say whether this man had also received treatment.
In Rheinland-Pfalz the virus was detected in a soldier. The Bundeswehr said it was a 41-year-old soldier who was ready to fly at the Cologne Wahn military airport and who had been treated at the Bundeswehr Central Hospital in Koblenz since Wednesday. He has flu-like symptoms, but is “in good condition”. In the neighboring federal states of Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, infections with the novel virus had previously been detected for the first time.
According to the Bundeswehr, the soldier was in contact with the seriously ill or his wife from Gangelt in the Heinsberg district of North Rhine-Westphalia at the carnival there. “Just because he heard that his acquaintance was being treated in the university clinic in Düsseldorf, he got in touch,” said senior physician Thomas Harbaum. Previously, the 41-year-old believed in normal flu. Now an attempt is being made to find his contact persons in order to inform them “because of domestic segregation”. For security reasons, the Cologne-Wahn military airport was temporarily closed on Wednesday.
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You should pay attention to these symptoms now
In the laboratories, things are going very quickly. One quick test after another. Who has the corona virus, who is positive, who is negative, how great is the danger for the German population? You should pay attention to these symptoms now.
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Source: WELT / Nadine Mierdorf
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Shortly before new cases become known on Wednesday afternoon in Baden-Wurttemberg the local health minister, Manne Lucha (Green), had announced details of “Patient Zero”, a 25-year-old man from Göppingen. The case became known on Tuesday evening.
According to Lucha, the young man and a friend visited a friend in Milan. Two days after the first symptoms, he reported to the health department. On the same day, a smear was examined at the State Health Office (LGA) and the patient was taken to a clinic, said Stefan Brockmann, head of the LGA competence center for health protection. There the patient is treated in isolation. But he is doing well, his condition is stable.
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On Wednesday afternoon, it was announced that one of the two patients infected with the coronavirus in Tübingen was employed as a senior physician in the pathology of the university hospital. The 60-year-old is said to have had contact with other doctors since the weekend – these contacts have been fully recorded, announced the clinic on Wednesday in Tübingen. A dozen senior physicians were tested and “taken out of health care”. You are under observation.
The man’s 24-year-old daughter is also infected with the virus and is treated in isolation. She had accompanied the first patient from Baden-Württemberg, a 25-year-old from Göppingen, to Milan. There are currently a particularly large number of infected patients in northern Italy.
Finally, on Wednesday evening, a fourth infection with the coronavirus became known in Baden-Württemberg. The 32-year-old affected person from the Rottweil district had entered the risk area in Italy and had no connection to the three previously reported patients in the southwest, the Ministry of Health said in Stuttgart on Wednesday. After returning from Codogno in Italy, the man reported to the local health department about the typical flu-like symptoms. The suspicion was confirmed early Wednesday evening.
The man is now being cared for in a hospital and treated in isolation from other patients. His wife, who had traveled with him, and his child have been tested negative, the ministry says. They remained in “domestic segregation,” it said in the message.
A total of 16 coronavirus infections had previously been detected in Germany, most of these patients have now been discharged from the hospital. 14 of the cases occurred in Bavaria on. The other two cases were China returnees, that had been flown out by the federal government. They were treated at the university clinic in Frankfurt am Main and released in mid-February.
What measures are being taken?
“The responsible authorities are now working intensively on the cases to prevent the spread of the corona virus as much as possible,” said Laumann. It cannot be ruled out that there may be other cases in the country. “But our healthcare system is well prepared and prepared for such illnesses.” He currently sees no reason to close off towns due to the outbreak in the state, he said on ZDF.
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In both Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, the authorities worked flat out on all of them Contact persons of coronavirus patients to prevent the spread of the pathogen.
The Gangelter Carnival Association has reported the names of its members to the responsible district of Heinsberg. “We have sent our membership lists to the district and offered any support,” said the president of the carnival association “Langbröker Dicke Flaa”, Wilfried Gossen, on Thursday of the German Press Agency.
Several hundred people are now under quarantine at home. People were not allowed to leave their homes for 14 days and would have to be supplied with food by friends, relatives or neighbors, who would then put the groceries on the doorstep. That works very well. In addition, the people in quarantine would have to draw up a kind of protocol on their state of health in accordance with the requirements of the health authority.
In Mönchengladbach is running at the Maria Hilf Hospital looking for people who had contact with the doctor infected with the coronavirus.
The district of Heinsberg has convened a crisis team that has already taken the first measures. So they stay schools and kindergartens closed in the district until Monday, there should be no public traffic in the district administration.
The Baden-Württemberg Minister of Health Manne Lucha (Greens) urged prudence. “Baden-Württemberg prepared for this case early on. All parties involved work closely and intensively together. ”Lucha wanted to cancel his vacation and inform the press on Wednesday.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said that the goal in Germany was to delay a wave of illness in order to prevent the Covid-19 and the current flu waves from coinciding.
A spokeswoman for DB Regio NRW told the German press agency early Wednesday morning that they were “in constant communication” with the authorities. Possible measures against spreading could also include restricting public transport.
Should the authorities closure of a company because of the corona virus, employers are obliged to continue to pay employees. This applies “if the employees are fit for work and ready to work, but the employer cannot employ them for reasons that lie within their business sphere”. This was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Labor (BMAS) at the request of the editorial network in Germany. The canceled working hours generally do not have to be reworked, said a spokesman.
If kindergartens or schools are closed as a precaution against the spread of the novel corona virus, workers can stay at home for childcare if necessary. Whether or not they continue to receive their salary during this time depends on whether no other support was really possible, explains Nathalie Oberthür, specialist lawyer for employment law from Cologne.
In large parts of the world, the data of landing passengers from China in Germany are no longer recorded. Also arriving passengers from South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy should now submit their data, said Jens Spahn on Thursday in Berlin. This was decided by a joint crisis team between the Ministry of Health and the Interior. Appropriate drop-off cards should ensure that all travelers can be contacted quickly if it turns out that a passenger is infected.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) said such dropouts cards should also be completed for cross-border train and bus services. Here he hoped that the transport companies would make a commitment. This is ordered in shipping. Such a step is indispensable for interrupting the infection chains.
Incidentally, would Asylum seekers tested for the new corona virus, said Seehofer. Because most of them would enter countries like Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan. This Friday, the crisis team wanted to deal with the handling of major events.
Jens Spahn contacted representatives of the medical profession and pharmacists. He emphasized that too many tests should be carried out rather than too few tests. The treatment of infected people does not require high-security isolation facilities. to treatment According to current knowledge, the regular intensive care unit and the regular isolation of the virus are sufficient, and there are several thousand beds here. In addition, it was possible at any time to set up additional provisional insulation units.
How do experts and politicians assess the situation?
The hospital association sees a possible illness of the staff as the greatest challenge in the event of a major coronavirus outbreak in Germany. The clinics are fundamentally well equipped and prepared for a situation similar to that of flu, said regional association manager Matthias Einwag. They are also prepared for isolating the sick. “But since there is no vaccination against the virus unlike the flu, we get a problem when doctors and nurses fall ill.” Then the lack of specialists will become even more noticeable.
In view of the spread in Europe and Germany, the federal government speaks of a “new situation”. The virus has moved significantly closer, said government spokesman Steffen Seibert on Wednesday in Berlin.
Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) sees Germany “at the beginning of a coronavirus epidemic”. In a conference call, he asked the health ministers of the federal states to “activate their pandemic plans and prepare for their possible entry into force,” Spahn said in Berlin on Wednesday. “The situation has changed in the past few hours, unfortunately you have to say that,” added the Minister. No pandemic has yet broken out – “but I think it’s important that we prepare for this situation”.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer sees “the situation is significantly aggravated”. Seehofer emphasized that the government would do everything “humanly possible” to protect the population. But there is no guarantee for that.
According to the numbers known so far, the virus is loud Robert Koch Institute (RKI) more deadly than the flu. How much higher the death rate will be seen after the end of the epidemic, said Institute President Lothar Wieler on Thursday in Berlin. He spoke of a severe form of the disease: 80 percent of those infected would only have mild symptoms, but in about 15 percent the infection would lead to a severe course of the disease. In 1-2 percent of those infected, the disease leads to death.
Infection via surfaces is still considered unlikely. This applies to food as well as to toys or other goods. Fruit from northern Italy, for example, can therefore continue to be bought and consumed without hesitation, said Prof. Lars Schaade, Vice President of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin on Thursday.
According to virologists an epidemic in Germany is unlikely. It had been assumed that there would be further cases in Germany, said the virologist Stephan Ludwig from the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster to the Evangelical Press Service (epd). “However, there is currently no danger of a major epidemic.”
With regard to the spread of the virus, Ludwig said: “It will be important to identify infections as early as possible and to isolate and treat those infected.”
The German municipalities warn of panic. “Germany has not only been very well prepared for a possible outbreak of pandemics since the new virus became known,” said Gerd Landsberg, chief executive of the German Association of Cities and Towns.
The corona epidemic has now spread to almost 30 countries worldwide, and 80,000 infections are known. More than 2,700 people have died from it – most of them in China, the source of the epidemic.
Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet (CDU) sees the fight against the new corona virus as a European task: “The cases don’t stop at the border,” said Laschet in the online program “BILD Live”. The situation must now be “solved together at a European level,” says Laschet.
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A spokesman for the Bavarian Ministry of Health said, “If necessary, important fundamental rights such as freedom of the person, freedom of assembly or inviolability of the home, as well as the right to physical integrity can be restricted.”
Italy is currently fighting the largest source of infection in Europe. According to the authorities, the number of fatalities there rose to twelve on Wednesday, and the number of infected to 374.
Despite this development, several European health ministers decided at a crisis meeting in Rome to leave the borders with Italy open for the time being. This was announced by the Italian Interior Minister Roberto Speranza in Rome after talking to his colleagues from Germany, France, Austria, Croatia and Switzerland. Closing the borders “would be a mistake and disproportionate”.
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After the meeting, Spahn said: “We take the situation very, very seriously.” In the cases that have now arisen in Europe, “not every chain of infection is traceable”. “That means we have a new situation that we have to deal with,” Spahn continued. When he spoke in Rome, the new cases of infection in Germany were not officially known.
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“The corona virus is a blow to the office”
The loading of container ships is stalling in Chinese ports. Crane operators and dock workers are missing. In addition, hardly any production was carried out in the factories there. The markets are reacting more and more feverishly.
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