LIVE | Tighter lockdowns, checks and protests: British police interrupt divine service | Inland

Protest in Stuttgart.

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Lahl told Mayor Clemens Maier, responsible for public order in Stuttgart, that he pointed out in writing and over the phone the possibility of banning this large-scale event, in accordance with the state’s corona regulations. A spokesman for the city of Stuttgart said in a response that it has been decided to demonstrate the constitutional right to prevail over the risk of more infections.

7:00 pm – London police interrupts divine service on Good Friday

London police interrupted a service in a Polish church in the south of the city on Good Friday for violating corona rules. Sky News published a video on Saturday afternoon showing an officer standing in front of the altar and telling the believers present to leave the house of prayer immediately.

Unfortunately, this meeting is illegal under current corona regulations. It is not legally allowed to be with so many people here. You must go home now. Failure to comply with this order to leave could result in a fine of £ 200 or, if you refuse to give your name and address, even arrest, ”said the policeman. He said he could imagine that believers would like to attend a church service, especially on Good Friday, but that it is not allowed under British corona rules.

Those responsible within Christ the King Church in Balham condemned the police action, saying they believe that the officers “have gone beyond their limits by using their proxy for no good reason.”

According to the church leadership, all requirements set by the government in the fight against Covid-19 have been met. She has informed her superiors of the Polish Catholic Mission in England and Wales of the state of affairs and asked the police for clarification.

18.30 – Curaçao police: stricter action against corona violators

The police in Curaçao is implementing a ‘zero tolerance’ policy in order to prevent the further spread of the corona virus as much as possible.

Police warned on Saturday that there will be a tougher response to people who violate applicable corona measures. That means: more police reports, more roadblocks to check traffic and motorists who are not allowed to be on the street will have their car towed away.

Curaçao has been in lockdown since March 24, a curfew has been in force for a long time and meetings have been prohibited for a long time. At the same time, there has been a significant increase in the number of corona infections. According to the police, there are still too many people who break the rules, including by attending illegal parties and taking to the road for unnecessary things. There will be tougher action.

6:00 pm – Thousands of agents check the Paris region for corona compliance

Police in the Paris region are sending 6,600 officers into the streets to check whether the population is complying with the tightened corona measures. The prefecture said that on Saturday. In the fight against Covid-19, the government has decided on a new national lockdown and, among other things, a curfew that will start at 7 pm on Saturday and last until 6 am on Sunday.

In many parts of France, including Paris, little changes, because the non-essential shops there are already closed and curfews have been in place for months. The strict regulations are now taking effect across the country. What is new in Paris is that the sale of alcohol on the street, from bars or restaurants, is explicitly prohibited. The police will monitor this closely, as will meetings of more than six people in public places.

More than 46,000 new cases were registered in France in 24 hours on Friday, more than 300 patients died. Health authorities recently reported that in a week, more than 400 out of 100,000 French had contracted the virus that had spread from China.

12:45 – Seven Britons died after vaccination with AstraZeneca vaccine

Seven people have died in the UK from rare blood clots after being vaccinated with the corona vaccine from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The British medical supervisor MHRA reports this on Saturday. It is unclear whether the vaccine is the cause of the deaths. A total of 18.1 million people in the UK have been given the vaccine. On Friday it was announced that thirty people had subsequently developed thrombosis complaints.

“The benefits of preventing Covid-19 infection and its complications continue to outweigh the potential risks and the public should continue to receive its vaccine when invited to do so,” said June Raine, chief of the MHRA. the BBC.

The UK report on the number of deaths comes at a time when several European countries have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to a possible link with blood clots.

The Netherlands has suspended vaccinations with the AstraZeneca injection after five new cases of thrombosis in women, one of which has died. Germany already decided on Tuesday to only administer the AstraZeneca vaccine to people over 60

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which, like the World Health Organization, previously declared the AstraZeneca vaccine safe, is expected to issue new advice on the matter on April 7.

The EMA reiterated on Wednesday that it believes the vaccine is safe and that experts have found no specific risk factors such as age, gender or medical history.

There have been no reports of blood clots as a result of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, the UK regulator said. The UK has delivered more than 31 million initial vaccine doses, using both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines. People cannot choose which one to get.

The UK ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in June 2020 and supported its development. That same year, it also ordered 30 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech.

11.34 – German health minister has to pay millions for mouth masks

German health minister Jens Spahn ordered 1 million face masks from a son of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, but never paid a cent after delivery. So says the son, Walter Kohl, owner of the company Kohl Consult. According to the newspaper Bild, he has gone to court in Bonn and is demanding 5.48 million euros from Spahn.

Kohl Consult was commissioned last spring and the company delivered 1 million FF2 masks at € 4.50 each on May 8, 2020. Walter Kohl states that he personally went along with the delivery, but at the destination there was not enough space for storage and it took three days before the trucks could be unloaded.

According to Kohl, contracts with mouth mask suppliers state that payment must be made within seven days of the delivery date, even without checking the cargo. Kohl says he never saw a penny and Spahn’s ministry’s excuse was suddenly that the masks wouldn’t be waterproof enough. Kohl states that he supplied the masks Spahn requested and that the waterproofing has nothing to do with it. “I do not understand why Jens Spahn and his ministry deliberately break their own contracts, the principle that contracts must be honored does not seem to apply,” Kohl complained in the newspaper Bild.

The ministry is not making any statements about the current procedures. Germany has recently been shocked by fraud in the trade in mouth masks, in which some politicians or administrators are said to have earned large sums of money as experts or mediators in concluding contracts with their ‘mouth caps’ knowledge.

10.45 – Corona self tests sell out quickly

The corona self tests that drugstore chain Etos has been selling since Saturday have already been sold out in a number of stores. According to a spokeswoman, there was a line of people waiting at some stores before opening time. There is no maximum number that a customer can buy, but Etos asks people to ‘also think about each other a little’.

During the first few days, Etos has a limited amount of a few dozen tests for sale per branch. Availability will increase next week.

With the rapid tests, people can take a test themselves to see if they are infected with the corona virus. The result will then follow after fifteen minutes. Etos emphasizes that the test is intended for preventive testing. “For example, when people want to visit a vulnerable family member at Easter,” said a spokeswoman.

The Ministry of Health approved two accelerated tests last week that allow people to test themselves for the corona virus. It concerns antigen tests from the companies Roche and Biosynex. The test that Etos sells is from producer Roche and costs 8.99 euros.

The national government also warns that the result of a self-test is less accurate. The tests should therefore not be used for corona complaints. Even someone who was close to someone who has corona and someone who returns from a high-risk area, the tests do not offer any relief. In those cases, a test appointment must always be made with the GGD.

Self-tests are also not intended as an access test. They are also not suitable for people from a risk group or for people who work with vulnerable people or informal carers.

08.09 – Koopmans puts AstraZeneca risk into perspective

Marion Koopmans, professor of virology at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, puts the risk of getting a blood clot after vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine into perspective. “OK, ff looked up: the risk of thrombosis after AZ vaccination is between the risk of death from an attack by a dog and the risk of death from lightning,” she reports on Twitter.

She then tweeted a statement from a study by the European medicines agency EMA, which shows that thrombosis in deep veins and pulmonary embolisms occur in 0.02 percent of the cases. That is less than expected, according to EMA.

07.38 – Argentine president has corona despite Sputnik vaccine

Despite being vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine in January, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez tested positive for the corona virus.

“I am waiting for the confirmation of the result and am in good mood, despite the fact that I have a mild fever. I am in good physical condition, ”the president, who turned 62 on Friday, wrote on Twitter.

The center-left Peronist won elections in October 2019.

Argentina, with a population of 44 million, has registered nearly 2.75 million cases of Covid-19. To date, 56,000 Argentines have died of the lung virus.

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