The federal states loosen the corona measures, some are already thinking of the end of all restrictions: the SPD general secretary is critical of this development. All information in the news blog.
There are already over five million people worldwide using the Corona virus infected, more than 346,000 people died. The country with the most registered corona infections – more than 1.6 million cases – is the United States. There are now over 180,600 cases in Germany, and over 8,300 people have died from the infection.
Klingbeil: Impression of end of the corona threat dangerous
SPD general secretary Lars Klingbeil has opposed excessive attempts by the federal states to loosen corona protective measures. “Some country heads give the impression that we are over the mountain and have defeated the corona virus and everything is fine. I think that is very dangerous communication,” he said in the RTL “Mittagsjournal” on Tuesday.
“Everyone has to stick to the rules, keep their distance, it should stay that way,” Klingbeil demanded. It “makes no sense that the countries outbid each other” because in the end everyone bears the responsibility “that the people in this country stay healthy”. The protective measures are exhausting, but “one must not give in to the pressure” to loosen them too quickly.
USA: G7 White House Summit would be a great sign of opening up the country
US President Donald Trump continues to campaign for the G7 summit to be held in the United States at the end of June and not as a video conference. Trump believes there couldn’t be a greater example of the country’s reopening, says spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany. The leaders would be protected at the White House meeting. They are very much in agreement with the plans.
The Hungarian government initiates the cancellation of Corona powers
The Hungarian government has initiated the lifting of the controversial special powers it received during the Corona pandemic. Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen submitted a relevant legislative proposal to Parliament shortly before midnight on Tuesday. After dealing with the bill in parliament and approving it, the emergency and special powers would likely end on June 20, Justice Minister Judit Varga wrote on her Facebook page.
The right-wing national prime minister Viktor Orban had been granted full powers by the parliament at the end of March to combat the corona pandemic. The move was internationally and heavily criticized by the domestic opposition because the underlying law does not impose a time limit.
According to the critics, it is at Orban’s sole discretion to end the situation that enables him to govern by ordinance. Since then, the power-conscious head of government has issued well over 100 decrees, which restrict data protection, the rights of workers and the information requirements of offices and authorities.
End of US entry stop from Europe still open
US President Donald Trump continues to leave open how long he wants to maintain the Schengen area’s entry ban into the United States. In response to demand, Trump said at the White House in Washington on Tuesday (local time) that his government would make certain announcements regarding countries in Europe in due course. “If they make progress, we will start to open it again – but only if they make progress.”
Kretschmann: Corona politics becomes the sole national issue
According to the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, the further course of action in corona policy should be Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) will in future only be determined by the federal states. Read more about it here.
Söder: Bavaria guarantees corona tests
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder has announced an extensive test strategy. People with symptoms should be tested within 24 hours and get the result within the following 24 hours. People without corona symptoms should also be tested faster: within 48 hours. The result should be there after a week at the latest.
Söder also announced that theaters and cinemas in Bavaria will be allowed to reopen from June 15 under strict hygiene and clearance requirements. Concerts and other cultural events should also be possible again.
Berlin: Corona violations are no longer punished with a fine
In Berlin Violations of the minimum distance and the reduction of contacts to a minimum can no longer be punished with fines. The Berlin Constitutional Court temporarily overruled the corresponding Senate fines regulations with a decision published on Tuesday. The court partially granted an urgent request.
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Accordingly, there can be no concrete fine if someone violates the minimum distance of one and a half meters and the command to “physically reduce social contacts to an absolutely necessary minimum”. Otherwise, the urgent request was rejected. At first, nothing was known about the other contents of the application and the reasons.
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Contact restrictions should apparently continue for several weeks
According to the “Bild” newspaper, the federal government plans to extend the contact restrictions until June 29. The paper relies on a draft that has yet to be approved by the federal states. After that, a maximum of ten people or members of two households should be able to meet in the public space.
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The number of visitors in one’s own apartment should no longer be restricted, but there should be enough space to comply with the distance rules and sufficient fresh air. A government spokesman said: “The talks are still ongoing. We do not want to anticipate the talks.”
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Causa Cummings: British Secretary of State resigns in protest
Secretary of State Douglas Ross has resigned in protest against the behavior of British government adviser Dominic Cummings in the corona crisis. Cummings’ interpretation of exit restrictions “most people who follow government rules cannot understand,” Ross wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson’s Conservative Party had previously received harsh criticism of Cummings. British commentators do not rule out further resignations.
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“I have voters who could not say goodbye to their loved ones, families who could not mourn together, people who did not visit their sick relatives because they followed the rules of the government,” said the Secretary of State for Scotland. He couldn’t tell everyone they were wrong and Cummings right.
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Record rise in deaths in Russia
In Russia, 174 other people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. That is more than ever in 24 hours. According to the authorities, the total number of fatalities thus rises to 3,807. In addition, 8,915 new infections were registered. So far, 362,342 people in Russia have been shown to have contracted the corona virus.
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Bartsch defends Ramelow – and criticizes other prime ministers
In the debate about the planned corona easing in Thuringia, the chairman of the Left Bundestag parliamentary group, Dietmar Bartsch, criticized the actions of the state premiers. “No easing race,” Bartsch demanded in the ARD “morning magazine” on Tuesday. This domino effect occurred when the Prime Ministers no longer acted together with the Chancellor, and that were different from the Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left), Bartsch further explained.
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Bartsch defended Ramelow’s plans in Thuringia. Because of the low infection rates across the country, this and Saxony’s CDU-led government only want local restrictions from June 6 instead of country-wide rules – depending on the situation in the respective municipalities. You have to keep looking at what’s really going on and then draw conclusions, said Bartsch. “Of course there will not only be bids from the state level, but also clear instructions in the individual circles, and I think that’s right.”
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Federal government wants to lift Corona travel warning for 31 countries
The federal government is preparing an end to the global tourist travel warning for 31 European countries as of June 15 if the development of the corona pandemic permits. In addition to Germany’s 26 partner countries in the European Union, these include Great Britain, which has left the EU and the four countries of the Schengen area that are not subject to border control, which are not members of the EU: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
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This emerges from the draft for a key point paper entitled “Criteria for the Facilitation of Inner-European Tourism”, which may possibly be decided on Wednesday in the Cabinet and is available to the German Press Agency.
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Vaccine projects close to “clinical trial”
The President of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, Klaus Cichutek, sees two further German vaccine research projects “close to the clinical trial”. A product from the company CureVac from Tübingen and a vaccine from the German Center for Infection Research are promising. In the RTL / ntv broadcast “Frühstart”, Cichutek said that he expected “that the next clinical trial could be approved by the Paul Ehrlich Institute in a few weeks”. So far only the company BioNTech from Mainz has received approval.
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He also expects an affordable corona vaccine. He expects manufacturers to offer a vaccine against the novel coronavirus “close to cost,” said Cichutek. “It is of course a question of prestige that companies feel challenged to help the world and therefore cannot overwhelm the world in terms of prices.” The Paul Ehrlich Institute is responsible for the approval of vaccines in Germany.
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After Ramelow push: Bavaria threatens countermeasures
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann threatens Thuringia with countermeasures to the proposed loosening of the corona protective measures. “Prime Minister Ramelow’s proposals are irresponsible,” the CSU politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Tuesday). They will keep a very close eye on the further development in Thuringia “to counteract in Bavaria in case of doubt”. Herrmann continued: “We will certainly not stand by and watch Ramelow carelessly undo great success in the fight against the highly dangerous corona virus.” At first, he did not give any further details.
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The Bavarian Minister of the Interior said Ramelow “is putting everything that has been achieved so far in the fight against corona at risk and risks worsening the infection situation”. Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder had previously criticized the announcement of far-reaching general easing as a “fatal signal” and called on those responsible in Thuringia to rethink their intentions.
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Brazil: For the first time, more deaths within 24 hours than the USA
For the first time, Brazil reports more Covid 19 deaths than the United States within 24 hours, according to the Department of Health. On Monday, 807 people died from the effects of the lung disease in Brazil, 620 in the United States. According to official figures, the Latin American country has the world’s second largest Covid 19 outbreak with 374,898 cases, behind the USA with 1.637 million people. The total number of deaths in the United States is 98,184, according to a count by the University of Johns Hopkins (as of May 25, 11 p.m.), compared to Brazil at 22,666.
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Report: TK records highest sick leave in March for 20 years
In March, apparently, as many workers in Germany registered sick than in two decades. This is indicated by an evaluation of the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), about which the newspapers of the Funke Media Group report in their Tuesday editions. The health insurance company explains the strongly above-average number with preventive sick leave due to the coronavirus.
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According to the newspaper report, the TK recorded a share of 6.84 percent on sick leave in March. This was the highest level in 20 years. In 2019, the annual high was 5.3 percent.
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According to the TK, the main reason for the sick leave was colds, as the spark pages report. TK board member Jens Baas therefore assumes that many people with cold symptoms followed the recommendation to stay at home as a precaution, so as not to infect their fellow human beings with the corona virus.
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Deutsche Post is planning extensive preventive tests
The German postal service will be the first German company to have thousands of employees tested for the corona virus without any specific reason. The company is embarking on a “prophylactic test strategy”, announced board member Tobias Meyer in the “Rheinische Post”. Significantly more than 10,000 employees should be offered to be tested as a precaution, “especially in larger business premises”.
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According to Meyer, the company doctors at Swiss Post are likely to offer the tests in some of the 36 parcel centers and possibly also in mail distribution centers. The company first tested around 4,000 employees in Germany after it had become infected with the corona virus in their immediate environment.
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Also, there were around a thousand employees in two parcel centers, only precautionary tests, although there were very few cases of infections, said Meyer. Among these tested, more than 20 would have shown a positive result. It was striking that these tests found an unexpectedly high number of infected people who showed no symptoms, said the Post board member. Therefore it can be assumed that “we have more infected people in the vicinity of our facilities than previously thought”.
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Spain corrects figures: almost 2,000 fewer deaths
Spain has reduced the number of corona deaths in the country by almost 2,000 to 26,834. A review of the data showed that some deaths had been counted twice, the Ministry of Health said. In other cases, it had been shown that, contrary to the original assumption, there was no infection with the corona virus. The number of confirmed infections was reduced by 372 cases to 235,400.
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Economy Minister Altmaier defends Lufthansa rescue package
Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier defended the rescue package for Lufthansa against criticism that in return for aid, the state should have secured more than nine billion euros more say in the airline. You can secure more than 100,000 jobs with the package, said the CDU politician on Monday evening in the ZDF “today journal”. In addition, an important company would be maintained, which operates worldwide and plays an “outstanding role” for the competitiveness of the German economy. However, they deliberately did not want to make any governmental stipulations for Lufthansa business. “The state is not a good entrepreneur,” said the economics minister.
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When asked whether the federal government would not invest in a shrinking business, Altmaier said that there would still be people flying in the future. European and German companies should be there, they don’t want to let airlines from Asia or the Arabian Peninsula do this.
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The Czech Republic opens border crossings to Germany and Austria
The Czech Republic will open all border crossings to Germany and Austria from Tuesday. The comprehensive controls should end, but police samples will continue to exist, Interior Minister Jan Hamacek announced in Prague. Travelers will continue to need a negative Covid 19 test certificate.
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Corona rules: federal and state governments increasingly disagreed
Bodo Ramelow wants to move forward and largely abolish the corona rules. Saxony is also thinking about it. The federal government and other states are critical of this. The unity in the crisis is finally gone. Read more about it here.
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Ramelow: We have to get out of the corona crisis status
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) has defended his controversial advance in further easing corona restrictions. The consequences would have to be drawn from the small number of infected and new infections in Thuringia, said Ramelow of the German Press Agency in Erfurt. “We have to get out of crisis status.” People could no longer be forced to push for bans to be lifted before courts, such as the recent opening of gyms.
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Those who restrict fundamental rights must be able to justify that, Ramelow said on Monday evening in the ARD. There are currently only around 250 people with an active corona infection in Thuringia. Risk groups need to be protected further. However, the question is whether this should be done in the current mode.
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Ramelow emphasized that he did not question infection protection as such. “This is not a call to recklessness,” he told the dpa. It is also important to keep your distance and wear mouth-nose protection where people get close – as in public transport. “I didn’t tell anyone: take off your mouthguard.” Mouthguard regulations that are tailored to individual areas are conceivable.
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Criticism of the study: Drosten flashes the “picture”
He is working on an important study on the spread of the coronavirus. The “Bild” wants to write about it critically, but hardly gives virologist Drosten time to answer questions. The paper probably did not expect his reaction. Read more about it here.
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WHO suspends tests with hydroxychloroquine
The World Health Organization (WHO) has suspended clinical trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 due to safety concerns. Tests in several countries have been “temporarily” stopped while the safety of the drug is being checked, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference on Monday. The decision was made after the publication of a study that treatment with hydroxychloroquine may increase the mortality rate.
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A research team from Harvard Medical School in Boston and the University Hospital of Zurich evaluated the data of 96,000 patients in hundreds of hospitals worldwide for the study published in The Lancet. They concluded that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine showed no benefit in Covid 19 patients. Rather, according to the researchers, the data collected indicated an increased risk of death. The drugs also increased the risk of irregular heartbeat.
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Spain wants to lift quarantine for travelers by July 1st
The holiday destination Spain wants to abolish the obligation to quarantine those arriving from abroad due to the Corona crisis by July 1st. The news agency Europa Press reported on Monday, citing government information. In July, Spain, the most important holiday destination in Europe, also wants to reopen to international tourism.
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Ramelow rowed back in loosening in Thuringia
Prime Minister of Thuringia Bodo Ramelow first called for all protective regulations in relation to the coronavirus pandemic to be waived. Now he wants to keep them in certain areas, such as local transport. Read more about it here.
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Seibert: Chancellor continues for central corona rules
Chancellor Angela Merkel wants an extension of the distance and hygiene rules in the corona crisis. The central rules of conduct should also apply after June 5, said her spokesman Steffen Seibert in Berlin. The minimum distance, contact restrictions and hygiene rules would have to be regulated and enforced. “We don’t want to jeopardize progress we’ve made together.” The current restrictions would expire in early June without an extension. By contrast, Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow had announced that the rules should then be overridden in his country and possibly replaced by local regulations.
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Seibert said Chancellor Minister Helge Braun is currently consulting with the countries on how to proceed after June 5. The aim is to continue to agree on a common path with basic rules. There could be regional deviations.
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Left boss: Ramelow’s initiative was not discussed
According to left-wing leader Bernd Riexinger, the announcement by Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) that the general corona restrictions would be lifted from June 6 was not in line with the party leadership. “Of course we already have communication, but we cannot speak of a vote in this sense now,” said Riexinger.
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The left leader was generally cautious about the move. “I assume that the state government in Thuringia has carefully considered what it is doing there.” It shouldn’t just be loosened up everywhere. You have to wait and see what the cabinet in Thuringia really passes in order to evaluate it. “Basically, the leadership of the left at the federal level has taken a cautious course on the whole issue of easing,” said Riexinger. “We were not in favor of an easing competition between the federal states. It will remain that way.”
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Japan abolishes Corona emergency
Japan has prematurely lifted the Corona emergency for the entire island kingdom. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also released the Tokyo metropolitan area and the northernmost province of Hokkaido on Monday. The right-wing conservative had already lifted the state of emergency for the other parts of the country. The emergency was originally scheduled to run until May 31, which did not impose severe exit restrictions as in some European countries. The citizens of Japan were only asked to stay at home if possible.
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In just one and a half months, the situation was almost under control, the head of government said. However, he called on the population to remain cautious about the risk of a second wave of infection. In addition to wearing masks, citizens should keep their distance from one another and if possible work from home.
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Söder criticizes Ramelow for advance in Thuringia
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) has described the announcement of far-reaching general easing of the corona restrictions in Thuringia as a “fatal signal”. He asked those responsible in Thuringia to rethink the intention, said Söder on Monday during a visit to a kindergarten in Nuremberg.
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Bavaria is affected by the infection in the neighborhood, said the Prime Minister. “We in Bavaria were particularly affected by the fact that we were at a border with Austria. We now have the current situation that, for example, we are affected by Sonneberg in the Coburg area,” said Söder, referring to the neighboring region of Thuringia.
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Söder announced countermeasures in case of doubt. “We will have to come up with a concept for how we will respond,” he said. “I don’t want Bavaria to be infected again by a careless policy that is done in Thuringia,” he emphasized.
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Christian Drosten is critical of Thuringia’s advance
Virologist Christian Drosten is skeptical of Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow’s approach to rely more on personal responsibility in the corona pandemic in the future. “Self-responsibility is the Swedish model and we see in these days and will see it even more in the coming months that a very high level of mortality has arisen there,” said the Charité scientist on Deutschlandfunk on Monday. “Well, I’m not entirely sure that all of this can be done through personal responsibility.” Drosten advocated better guidelines for certain social areas such as schools and kindergartens.
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Saxony announces change in corona restrictions
After Thuringia, Saxony has also announced a fundamental change in dealing with restrictions in the corona crisis. “If the number of new infections remains stable at a low level, we are planning a paradigm shift for the period from June 6 in the next Corona protection regulation,” said Health Minister Petra Köpping (SPD) on Monday in Dresden.
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Petra Köpping: She is responsible for health in Saxony. There will soon be a change in the corona restrictions. (Source: Reichwein / imago images)
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“Instead of generally imposing restrictions as now and naming many exceptions to what is possible again, everything is then generally released and only a few exceptions are named that will not yet be possible,” said Köpping. The “Leipziger Volkszeitung” had previously reported.
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The government is monitoring the infection very closely to assess how the current measures are working, said the minister. “A lot depends on people taking responsibility and adhering to the imperative of distance and wearing a mask. You can see how quickly an outbreak can occur in restaurants, schools, daycare centers or church services.” A nationwide decision should be made as to whether and when the obligation to cover the mouth and nose and to keep away is lifted.
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Famous Meyer shipyard also affected after Corona outbreak in restaurant
After the Corona outbreak related to a restaurant visit in Ostfriesland are also employees of the Papenburg Meyer shipyard in quarantine. A company spokesman confirmed a corresponding report from the NDR on Monday morning. According to the NDR, “Members of the shipyard management and almost the entire works council” must remain at home. So far there have been 18 confirmed infected people.
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A cruise ship is being built in the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg: Because the corona virus has broken out, many employees have to stay at home. (Archive picture). (Source: IPON / imago images)
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The district of Leer looks for the positive corona tests in this case further reasons for the infections. It will be checked whether there were violations of the Corona requirements in the restaurant, said a spokesman for the district on Sunday. A survey of the guests “provided evidence that corona requirements may have been violated that evening,” it said. These instructions are also followed up with a hearing of the operator.
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CDU leaders sharply criticized Ramelows Corona plan
Leading CDU politicians attack Thuringia’s prime minister Bodo Ramelow. The head of state plans to abolish general corona regulations shortly. This goes too far, especially for two prime ministers. Read more about it here.
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Peter Altmaier hopes for summer vacation abroad
Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) considers summer vacation abroad to be feasible if safety standards are observed. He was “optimistic that we could not spend our summer vacation exclusively in Germany,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group on Monday. To do this, however, “clear hygiene concepts and distance regulations” would have to be observed on site in the holiday resorts.
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The vacation this year will in any case “look different than we are used to,” added the Federal Minister of Economics. “Towel to towel on the beach or big celebrations in a confined space will probably not be possible this year”.
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Number of traffic fatalities drops to new monthly low in March
The number of fatalities per month in March reached its lowest level since reunification in 1990. The Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday in Wiesbaden. According to preliminary official data, 158 people died in traffic accidents in March. According to the Federal Office, this was due to the fact that the traffic volume as a result of the corona pandemic was very low.
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The number of accidents fell by 23 percent or almost a quarter to 166,000 compared to March 2019. That was also less than ever before since 1990. The number of people injured in traffic accidents fell by 27 percent compared to March 2019 or also by around a quarter to 20,400. However, that was not a monthly minus record. In February 2010 it was even less.
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Corona outbreak in Dutch slaughterhouse near German border
In a Dutch slaughterhouse in Groenlo near the border Germany 147 employees tested positive for the corona virus. This was announced by the local government Oost Gelre on Sunday. According to a report by the local newspaper “De Gelderlander”, 79 of the infected live in Germany, 68 in the Netherlands. Overall, according to the local government, of the 657 employees in the Vion slaughterhouse group, 25 employees had not yet been tested, and the data for five employees were missing. The German authorities had been informed.
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Already on Friday the authorities of the province of Gelderland in the east of the country ordered home quarantine for 600 employees and closed the slaughterhouse. Corona infections were found in 45 employees in the slaughterhouse. Dozens of employees had previously been infected in other branches of the Vion Group in Germany. The company claims to have slaughterhouses in Germany and the Netherlands with a total of 12,000 employees and sales of 5.1 billion euros.
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The trade union federation FNV had made the living situation of many employees responsible for the spread of the virus. Migrant workers in particular would live close together in group accommodation. In most cases, employment agencies provide accommodation for migrants, often in Germany. The community urged Vion and the temporary employment agencies to make the housing of the workers humane so that all affected workers could safely remain in quarantine.
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Head of “Business Ways” welcomes proposal for EU aid
The head of “economies”, Lars P. Feld, welcomed proposals for billions in EU reconstruction aid – but at the same time spoke out in favor of conditions. Feld told the German Press Agency about a Franco-German proposal: “There are no corona bonds through the back door. It is above all a political signal to Italy, Spain and France.”
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Even easier access to loans from the European Stability Mechanism, combined with bond purchases from the ECB, offers many opportunities to stabilize a country that is relatively heavily indebted. “I hope that the compromises that are now being made with Austria and other countries will also result in certain conditions – for example, that Italy will be more committed to reducing its debts as part of the European Semester once this crisis is over . “
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Feld is the chairman of the expert council for assessing macroeconomic developments, which advises politicians. Colloquially, the experts are also referred to as “business practices”.
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23 corona infections detected in nursing home
In a retirement and nursing home in Dusseldorf 23 residents were tested positive for the new type of corona virus. So far, only one resident has been hospitalized, the rest are currently symptom-free, the city said on Sunday. They remained in quarantine in the care facility. In total, more than 100 people lived in the facility in the Benrath district, it said.
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The health department had tested all residents after the corona virus had been detected by an employee. Visitors can no longer be received; employees must wear masks with a high level of protection.
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Austria’s Federal President violates Corona curfew
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and his wife Doris Schmidauer were caught by the police in a pub in Vienna after the Corona curfew. Van der Bellen confirmed the “Kronen Zeitung” incident on Sunday and apologized. He “chatted and unfortunately overlooked time”. The police also confirmed that the Federal President was found in a guest garden during a check in downtown Vienna. According to the “Kronen Zeitung”, Van der Bellen and his wife still had drinks on the table when the bar was checked around 0:00 p.m.
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In Austria, restaurants, pubs and bars are currently only allowed to open until 11 p.m. due to the corona pandemic. The incident could therefore have expensive consequences for the landlord. The Covid 19 Measures Act provides for penalties of up to 30,000 euros for operation after 11 p.m. Officially, the restaurant was already closed.
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Federal President Van der Bellen himself showed repentance on Sunday. “I’m really sorry. It was a mistake,” he told the Kronen Zeitung.
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