Germany is close to 40 thousand covid infections, with a scenario today from the red zone. A lockdown for unvaccinated people is outlined in Berlin, while Chancellor Angela Merkel calls for an emergency meeting to the Laender to stem the new wave. The picture in the country is increasingly alarming after the data released by the Robert Koch Institute: 39,676 new infections, another 236 deaths and an incidence that rises to 232.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. There is enough to raise the alarm at the federal level.
Merkel has asked for an emergency meeting with the premier of the various Laender to address the situation. The virus “is spreading drastically”Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said, saying a “swift and united response” is needed. “The virus does not take into account political processes and periods of transition”, he added, referring to the process of forming the new executive. Merkel has repeatedly said that she is ready for a conference of regional prime ministers who have not yet given their unified consent. One of the things to deal with, according to the chancellor, are measures to increase the pace of vaccinations. The introduction of measures linked to the number of hospitalizations cannot be excluded: beyond a certain threshold, which would trigger additional restrictions.
Pending coordinated steps, important local measures arrive. Bavaria, as Tagesschau anticipates, is preparing to launch a state of emergency to allow local authorities to operate more fluidly and quickly in contrasting the spread of the infection. In Berlin the ‘Austria model’ is adopted, with a sort of lockdown for the unvaccinated. A negative swab will no longer be enough to go to a restaurant, cinema or theater. Nor to access sporting events with over 2,000 spectators outdoors: you must be vaccinated or cured of the coronavirus.
In parallel, Germany continues to push the vaccination campaign. The country has just hit 312,000 daily doses, a record since August. In Germany, in the middle of the fourth wave of Covid, 312 thousand doses of the vaccine were administered yesterday, the highest number of immunizations since last August. “The direction is right, but it still isn’t enough to stop the pandemic’s forward momentum,” Health Minister Jens Spahn wrote on Twitter, disclosing the data. The number of fully vaccinated in Germany remains below 70%, precisely at 67.3%.
The Standing Committee on Stiko Vaccinations meanwhile recommends that the people aged 30 and younger are vaccinated against Covid only using the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. This is because – according to the analysis of the German advisory body – the product in question showed a lower incidence of heart inflammation in this age group compared to the other mRna vaccine, that of Moderna. The recommendation to use Pfizer / BioNTech on young people applies to boosters even if the first vaccination course was performed using a different product.
The Stiko committee, active at the Robert Koch Institute, also said that pregnant women, regardless of age, should be immunized using Pfizer / BioNTech.
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