Another corona summit is due on Friday. In keeping with the new Omikron variant. Quarantine times will be one of the topics. The news ticker.
- The next Corona * MPK is on Friday. Because of Omikron, new rules could be enacted.
- Markus Söder raised the shortening of the quarantine times to the main question of the MPK (see update from January 4th, 5.45pm). This already applies to one occupational group (see update from January 4, 6.44 p.m.).
- The government’s expert council has agreed on an amendment to the vaccination status (see update from January 4th, 9:03 p.m.).
- This news ticker is updated regularly.
Update from January 4th, 7:20 a.m .: At the next federal-state conference on Friday, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to push through shortened quarantine times and further tightening of contact restrictions due to the threat of the coronavirus spreading rapidly. “Unfortunately, tightening will be necessary to counter the heavy wave that is coming our way,” Lauterbach told the newspapers of the Editorial network Germany. “I will make suggestions,” he emphasized, without wanting to give details.
The restrictions are particularly important for unvaccinated people. “I would like to spare the unvaccinated that they come to the intensive care unit,” said the SPD politician. They should therefore get vaccinated “quickly” at least once. Lauterbach again campaigned for an early introduction of the general compulsory vaccination. “The vaccination must come quickly,” he said RND. “We cannot wait for a compulsory vaccination to become superfluous because we have a very high level of infection in the population”. He is working on a proposal for mandatory vaccination for people over the age of 18.
The prime ministers of the federal states will meet with representatives of the federal government on Friday to reassess the pandemic situation in Germany. The heads of the federal and state governments want to advise on shortening the quarantine and isolation times, with which personnel bottlenecks at important facilities are to be avoided. The health ministers are already discussing this on Wednesday. The ministers of education will also meet on Wednesday. They are expected to speak out in favor of keeping schools open despite the increased spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Vaccination status boom at Corona summit? Expert advice on Lauterbach probably already agreed
Update from January 4th, 9:03 p.m .: On Tuesday (January 4th) the 19-member expert council of the federal government met with Health Minister Karl Lauterbach for a video meeting. The committee was able to come up with a joint resolution mirror but not get through. In addition to the classification of the current corona situation, the implementation of a possible shortening of the quarantine time, the effects of the Omikron variant and booster vaccinations were discussed.
Apparently there was agreement that in future only people with three vaccinations should be considered fully vaccinated.
“We cannot yet say whether the measures have worked over Christmas because we will only see the development of the infections in the coming days,” said expert council member Stefan Sternberg. Therefore, they want to meet again either Wednesday (January 5th) or Thursday (January 6th) and then publish a recommendation.
Health ministers of the federal states meet with Lauterbach before the federal-state summit
Update from January 4th, 7:53 p.m .: On Wednesday (January 5), the federal and state health ministers will meet for a short-term video conference, as announced by the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Health. The state has chaired the Conference of Health Ministers (GMK) since the beginning of the year. In view of the growing wave of omicrons, a change to the corona quarantine rules is to be discussed at the video conference. This means that the heads of department will meet before the Prime Ministers’ consultations with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday (January 7th).
Update from January 4th, 6.44pm: Already before the next federal-state summit on Friday (January 7th) will be discussed eagerly. A possible shortening of the quarantine time for people who tested positive for the coronavirus and their contact persons is under discussion. For a professional group, this is even possible now.
According to a document from the Robert Koch Institute, exceptions apply to medical staff who have tested positive. According to this, hospitals, for example, can consider shortening the 14-day quarantine in individual cases in the event of an “acute staff shortage”. This only applies to people with an easy course. In addition, those affected must be symptom-free for 48 hours and two PCR tests must be negative within a minimum of 24 hours.
Before the federal-state summit: Söder calls for new quarantine regulations
Update from January 4th, 5.45pm: Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder is calling for the corona quarantine regulations to be shortened – following the example of other countries such as France or Italy. Söder raised the issue to the core question for the upcoming MPK on Friday.
“The traffic light now has to make suggestions on how to continue using Omikron. The basis for this must be a scientifically sound assessment, ”said the CSU boss on Tuesday of the German Press Agency in Munich. Above all, it is important to know whether the milder course will reduce the burden on the hospitals. “It is necessary to revise the current quarantine regulations. With a rapidly growing spread, we cannot quarantine the whole country at the same time, ”says Söder.
Update from January 4th, 5:33 p.m .: The Corona Expert Council met on Tuesday to discuss the current situation in front of the MPK (Friday). After the meeting, the local representative in the council spoke out in favor of more uniform national regulations. As an example, he cited access to gastronomy: “We see it in a circle that we have a real gastronomy run on other federal states, in which – unlike us in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – you don’t need an additional negative corona test “, Says Stefan Sternberg. “I think that will also be the subject of the Prime Minister’s Conference on Friday,” he added.
Before the corona summit: new tightening of rules? Expert council member with assessment
Sternberg also confirmed that the consultations were also about possible changes to the quarantine time. However, he did not give any details.
However, it remains to be seen whether, in addition to standardizing the measures, new, stricter rules will be necessary, according to Sternberg. It is important that reliable data are available on the spread of the new virus variant. “We will only see after the weekend what effects the contact restrictions had over Christmas,” said Sternberg. An initial inventory showed, however, that Germany is two weeks behind most other countries in terms of the spread of the Omikron variant. But you have to wait until more test results are available again and provide a more precise picture of the infection situation. “In the course of the next week we will see where the train is going and whether it is not necessary to go in again with further measures, or whether a standardization is sufficient.”
Corona summit is approaching: RKI presents draft new rules
First report from January 4th: Berlin – The next Corona summit * is scheduled for Friday, January 7th. It is clear that the federal and state governments will agree new regulations in the fight against the corona pandemic. The meeting is all about the Omikron variant and a possible new regulation of the quarantine times. According to a report by imageNewspaper, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) will present a draft for new quarantine and corona rules even today. It had already been announced that the RKI is expected to make a recommendation before the Corona summit on Friday.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has also already announced that a possible shortening of the quarantine is up for debate. Another mutation from Cameroon has caused a stir since the beginning of the week. In the run-up to the summit, Lauterbach made an exclusive statement Merkur.de.
The Education and Science Union (GEW) advocates shortening the corona quarantine for teachers. At the same time, GEW chairman Maike Finnern confirmed to the Editorial network Germany the demand to keep schools open in principle. “The face-to-face teaching should be continued across the board,” said Finnern. “It cannot be that children and young people are taught from home for weeks on end.”
Corona summit on Friday: demand to shorten the quarantine – RKI numbers incomplete
The German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB) is pushing for a solid database for the decisions. “We need a solid database on the infection process as soon as possible. Otherwise politics cannot decide, ”said Gerd Landsberg, General Manager of the DStGB imageNewspaper on Tuesday. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has been pointing out for days that the figures it recently published on new infections with the corona virus are incomplete. Because of the holidays, fewer people were being tested and not all health authorities passed their data on, the institute said.
A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced on Monday that the RKI would present reliable data on the current infection status in Germany later this week.
MPK: The federal-state meeting is dominated by the Omikron variant
Germany’s leading clinic doctors are also calling for a shortening of the quarantine for corona infected people and their contact persons who work in important care areas. “Those who have recovered and who have been vaccinated should be allowed to go back to work after seven days if they take a PCR test on the sixth day after finding an omicron infection and the result is negative,” said Michael Weber, President of the Association of Leading Hospital Doctors (VlK), in conversation with the New Osnabrück newspaper.
For close contact persons of Omikron-positives, the quarantine obligation should be dropped entirely if they are employed in the critical infrastructure, Weber said. If this group of people tested negative three days after the risk encounter and showed no symptoms, “no quarantine should apply,” said the association president NOZ. “The people will soon be urgently needed.”
The doctor from Dachau justified his approach with the Omikron experience from other countries. “Here too, very, very many people will be infected with the new Corona * variant in the foreseeable future,” he said. With the currently applicable rules “we would then come into a critical personnel situation, from the bus driver to the nursing staff”. It is therefore important that isolation and quarantine be “limited to the absolute minimum” for this group. The shortening should only apply to vaccinated and convalescent people who work in important care areas. In addition, it must be tested closely. (aka with dpa and AFP) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
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