+++ Corona news +++: Intensive care physicians call for the epidemic situation to be determined

In Germany the number of known infections is increasing by 34,145 to just over eight million, according to data on the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) website . The number of deaths increases by 30 to 115,649. The seven-day incidence is 528.2.

The RKI has counted since the beginning of the pandemic 8,000,122 proven infections with Sars-CoV-2. The actual total is likely to be significantly higher as many infections go undetected.

The rapid spread of the omicron variant , which is mostly associated with rather mild courses of the disease encourages critics of general corona vaccination in their concerns . “Omicron is changing the rules of the game,” said the parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Stephan Thomae, of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “Now is not the time to just do anything and decide on the toughest possible measures just to show you are ready to act.

It’s about doing the right thing at the right time.
Stephan Thomae

A few days ago already had the Chairwoman of the German Ethics Council, Alena Buyx, made it clear that the committee may reconsider its recommendation for an extended compulsory vaccination must. The attitude also depends on which corona variant dominates the infection process, she told the “Spiegel”. When the majority of the Ethics Council recommended extending compulsory vaccination to a large part of the population in December, this was done “essentially under the conditions of the Delta variant”.

The Proponents consider vaccination to be necessary because, according to many experts, the vaccination rate in Germany has so far been too low to contain the pandemic in the long term.

Lower Saxony’s Minister of the Interior Boris Pistorius has a consistent crackdown on the part of the state against rule violations and violence during protests against the Corona policy announced. “Anyone who resists the measures of the police or tries to break through a police barrier with reckless violence or even with a child in front of their stomach , makes it clear that it is about aggression and an attack on the state. And we, representing the vast majority of citizens, will not put up with that,” said the SPD politician in the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”.

“There is talk of a dictatorship and fascists, there is talk of violence and conspiracies. And this shows that many of those who take to the streets are not actually concerned with the Corona measures, but rather with contempt and denigration of the state and democracy,” Pistorius emphasized. Here the “fortified constitutional state” will be very careful and intervene wherever necessary.

In view of the current corona wave with of the highly contagious omicron variant , the virologist Klaus Stöhr first expects an infection in the coming weeks, then a natural immunization of the population – and finally an end to the pandemic. “There will be uncertainty over the next two to three weeks as to how high the incidence will rise. After that, a lot of people will get natural immunity due to the very strong epidemic that will unfortunately set in then, which cannot be averted,” he said on Sunday evening on the TV channel Bild.

This immunity is “planted on top” of immunization through vaccinations, Stöhr continued. Both together will lead to a lasting immune protection, so that you don’t have to boost the fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh time. In the fall you have to see if you can offer vaccinations to those over 60.

From the point of view of the organization Oxfam exacerbated social inequalities. While the wealth of the top 10 billionaires has doubled, more than 160 million people live in poverty, according to a report released by Oxfam just ahead of a digital World Economic Forum conference. In Germany, too, the concentration of wealth has continued to increase.

Oxfam called on governments worldwide to tax corporations and the super-rich more heavily to finance basic social services, for global vaccination justice and to align the economy with the common good. Over three billion people have now had two doses of the vaccine against Covid-19, but only around nine percent of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to Oxfam. The vaccines should be treated as a public good, also because governments have funded their development with a lot of tax money.

Millions of people who could have been saved are died from the pandemic and its consequences due to the unfair distribution of vaccines.
Oxman

According to a newspaper , British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to abolish the legal requirement for domestic isolation after an infection . The plans should be worked out over the coming weeks, reports the newspaper “The Telegraph”. Although the recommendations for quarantine should remain within your own four walls, disregard will no longer result in fines or other penalties.

Employees in family doctor’s practices, who after the entry into force of the corona vaccination obligation no vaccination or Those who have recovered can expect a warning and ultimately their dismissal. This emerges from an information sheet from the German General Practitioners Association, which was the first to be reported by the editorial network Germany (RND, Monday).

The so-called institution-related vaccination obligation stipulates that employees in institutions such as medical practices, clinics and nursing homes n must provide evidence by March 15 that they have been vaccinated or have recovered. This is intended to better protect patients and those in need of care from corona infection.

Unvaccinated Greeks over 60 will be asked to pay from now on: Anyone who still does not have the corona vaccination administered, will be fined 50 euros in January, from February it will be 100 euros per month. The regulation came into force on Monday night. According to the state broadcaster, around 300,000 people are affected by the measure.

Your data should now be forwarded from the state social security system to the tax office, which collects the fines. The money then goes to the state hospitals. In Greece, the vaccinations administered are stored in a personalized database.

The government already sees the measure as a success: since the announcement of penalties a good six weeks ago, around 217,000 over 60-year-olds get vaccinated. This increased the vaccination rate in this age group to 90 percent.

The FDP politician Stephan Thomae has his doubts “Omicron is changing the rules of the game,” said the parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Monday). “Now is not the time to just do anything and decide on the toughest possible measures just to show willingness to act. It’s about doing the right thing at the right time.”

Thomae is reacting to statements by the virologist Christian Dro sten, who sees the omicron variant, which is highly contagious but probably causes a milder course of the disease, as a “chance” to move from the pandemic to the endemic state. The prerequisite, however, is broad immunity, Drosten told the “Tagesspiegel”. “The virus has to spread, but on the basis of vaccination protection anchored in the general population” – otherwise too many people would die.

The number of work-related According to a newspaper, cases of illness increased significantly during the pandemic . It was 39,551 cases in 2020, reports “Bild” in advance, citing a report by the federal government. This is a increase of 93.7 percent compared to the previous year and new record.

Among them are 18,959 cases of employees of

Health care or laboratories with occupational diseases caused by infections. The overall economic costs of the inability to work would be 144 billion euros.

The French Parliament has finally approved drastic access restrictions for the unvaccinated in the fight against the fifth corona wave . 215 MPs spoke to the National Assembly on Sunday evening voted in favour, 58 voted against. Seven MPs abstained. The law stipulates that unvaccinated people over the age of 16 should no longer have access to restaurants, cultural institutions and long-distance transport .

In view of the enormously high number of infections, the French government wants to provide further incentives for a corona vaccination. The regulation is intended to the currently valid health passport , which provides evidence of vaccination, recovery or a current negative corona test, to be converted to a vaccination card . A negative test will soon no longer be enough to gain access to numerous places.

The regulation was originally supposed to take effect on January 15th. The project was delayed due to heated debates in the National Assembly and between the two chambers of parliament. It is still unclear when exactly the change will come into force. Individual MPs had announced that they wanted to call the Constitutional Council about the text.

In view of the rapidly increasing corona numbers , the North Rhine-Westphalian Green Party chairwoman Mona Neubaur calls for an FFP2 mask requirement in shops, restaurants, buses and trains . “An FFP2 mask requirement in closed rooms, for example in restaurants, retail and local public transport, but also in outdoor places where distances cannot be maintained, would be a mild but effective measure in the fight against the pandemic ,” said Neubaur of the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” (Monday). It is incomprehensible why the state government is waiving an obligation.

Unlike in other federal states, there is no obligation to wear the higher-quality protective masks in such places in North Rhine-Westphalia. Instead, the simpler and cheaper surgical masks can also be worn there. So far, the state government has only made one urgent recommendation for FFP2 masks, for example when shopping or on buses and trains.

According to a “Spiegel” report, dozens of soldiers are being investigated in the Bundeswehr for violating compulsory vaccinations . For the approximately 180,000 soldiers, refusing vaccination is refusing to obey orders. First of all, those who refuse to vaccinate in uniform face disciplinary sanctions, the magazine writes. Ultimately, refusing vaccination would result in removal from the force.

In Amsterdam thousands of people came together again on Sunday to protest against the Dutch government’s Corona policy . Banners said, among other things, “Return to normality now!”, “We’re fed up with lies” and “No 2G”. Farmers who had come to Amsterdam with several tractors also took part in the protest actions, as reported by the Dutch news agency ANP.
On the demonstrations in several districts of Amsterdam and on The action group called “Nederland in Verzet” (“Netherlands in the Resistance”) in the central square in front of the Rijksmuseum. This was to remind us of the violent clashes between demonstrators and police officers on January 17 last year, which were referred to as a “coffee fight”. The Corona demos, which were often forbidden at the time, were declared by the organizers as a joint public “drinking coffee”.
The authorities in the Dutch capital declared the affected areas on Sunday to safety zones. This gave the police the power to pre-emptively search people. According to the ANP, she feared that some participants were carrying firecrackers or guns. Mayor Femke Halsema appealed to the demonstrators to adhere to the Corona rules; otherwise the police will intervene.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz sees an important milestone in vaccination achieved. Three out of four German citizens have now been vaccinated against the corona virus at least once. The initial vaccination rate of 75 percent is “an important milestone,” said the SPD politician on Twitter on Sunday. He added: “The next thing we should aim for is the 80 percent mark.” That should happen by the end of January if possible.
However, within two weeks, about four million initial vaccinations would be necessary. Most recently, there were usually fewer than 60,000 initial vaccinations a day. At this rate, the government would miss its target by a wide margin.
According to figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Saturday, 72.6 percent of the population full basic protection . Almost every second (46.6 percent) has already received an additional booster vaccination , which is important for protection against the omicron variant.
The vaccination numbers are to be understood as minimum quotas – not all vaccinations could be recorded by the reporting system, the RKI explained. The actual vaccination rate could be up to five percentage points higher.

In Austria, compulsory vaccination against the coronavirus is to come into force as planned at the beginning of February. That’s what the draft law that the government presented on Sunday says. The vaccination requirement should apply to people over the age of 18 and not, as previously planned, over the age of 14 . Controls should begin in mid-March, including on the road, as Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) said. For those who refuse to vaccinate, there is a penalty of 600 and 3600 euros if they do not comply with a vaccination request and allow a vaccination date to elapse.
The law applies to all people residing in Austria. Exceptions are provided for pregnant women and people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. be able. Recovered should be exempted for 180 days.
The Parliament is to pass the law on Thursday (January 20). This is considered a formality because the governing coalition of the conservative ÖVP and the Greens has the necessary simple majority.
The Chinese city of Xi’an has, according to a state media report , partially lifted the more than three-week lockdown that has been in effect since December 22 . In some communities, which are considered to be at a lower risk, restrictions have either been partially or completely lifted, the state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday, citing officials. This would allow people to leave their homes for a limited time. In certain districts, production has resumed.
The heads of government of Lower Saxony and Bremen, the SPD politicians Stephan Weil and Andreas Bovenschulte, are pushing for a quick decision on the introduction of general compulsory vaccination. “Unfortunately, based on the experience of the past few months, only compulsory vaccination can break the vicious circle of ever new waves of infection and intermittent relaxation,” says Weil of the newspaper “Die Welt”. “And there is no evidence that omicron will be the last virus variant, and infection by omicron will not permanently protect people against other variants.”
Bremen’s Mayor Bovenschulte wants a Do not rule out limiting compulsory vaccination to particularly vulnerable groups such as the elderly : “Since older people are statistically much more likely to become seriously ill and therefore place a much greater burden on the health system, compulsory vaccination would be, for example easier to justify for a 60-year-old than for a 19-year-old.”
Again numerous demonstrations against corona measures and Compulsory vaccination
The retail sector has seen an increasing number of attacks on employees checking corona vaccination certificates complained. “Employees are insulted, spat on and also aggressively physically attacked,” said the chief executive of the industry association HDE, Stefan Genth, the news portal T-Online according to the report on Sunday. “Incidents of this kind are unbearable.” Clear boundaries should be set for people who behaved in such a ruthless manner. With the control of the obligation to wear masks and 2G rules, retailers are taking on state tasks. “This must not become permanent. This is a massive overstrain for companies.”
The association advocates the 2G rule for access only for vaccinated and recovered people to abolish in retail or at least to adapt. “It is incomprehensible why random checks are sufficient in the subway, where people stand closely together, while when shopping, where distances are maintained and the length of stay is shorter, every single customer has to be checked,” said Genth. One must be allowed to go over to random checks . He also reiterated the demand for a legal obligation to vaccinate.

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