German Health Minister Jens Spahn has called for understanding the continuation of harsh blockade conditions in Germany, and said they were necessary to prevent a “considerable worsening” of the current situation despite the slowdown in the rate of infections.
Germany’s death toll topped 51,000 on Thursday, after rising an average of 1,000 deaths a day for several weeks.
Spahn said at a news conference, flanked by the head of the government’s disease control agency, the country’s leading coronavirus virologist and head of intensive care medicine, that the measures should remain in place until at least “a in late February or until March. ”He cited the dangers of mutations first detected in England, South Africa and Brazil as motivating the decision.
Germany reported nearly 18,000 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, about 4,000 fewer than a week ago.
Spahn said he could understand the bewilderment of many Germans as to why the measures had been expanded and intensified in recent days, despite declining numbers. Public discontent was reflected in a wave of emails, phone calls and letters he had received, he said.
“The figures for the last few days are encouraging. They are going in the right direction. The rate of infection sinks. We are seeing the first relief in intensive care units … but it is still a considerable burden with many Covid-19 patients in intensive care units and in the hospital.
“But the numbers are still too high and what we need is to collectively use intensified measures, despite the many difficulties involved, to continue to suppress the figures … for this virus to be controllable,” he said.
For months, Germany’s coronavirus rate has been too high to allow contact tracking, which Spahn said was a crucial tool to be able to control the disease.
With nearly 5,000 beds in the intensive care unit currently occupied with Covid-19 patients, Spahn insisted that it was imperative to reduce the number of hospitalized to prevent the health care system from overflowing.
“If we look at other European countries, we can see how quickly the situation is inflamed again,” he said, later referring to Britain and Portugal.
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Faced with renewed criticism of Germany’s slow progress in the vaccine program compared to other countries such as Britain, Spahn said he was confident it would recover quickly once production capacity increased, with a new factory for the company BioNTech which is expected to end next month. The AstraZeneca vaccine will also be available in Germany in the coming days.
So far 1.5 million people had received the puncture, Spahn said. He said 60% of nursing home residents had so far received a first shot and that in total the offer had been offered and accepted at 80%. Currently, the acquisition rate was also higher than expected among care workers, about 80% of whom had so far accepted the offer.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said on Thursday that all citizens could expect to be offered the punch on September 21st.
Spahn said there were no plans to delay access to the second blows. He said the German government would follow the scientific advice that maximum protection would be provided if the difference between the first and second dose were between three and six weeks.
With the focus initially focused on the most vulnerable, he said he did not want to risk a situation where a mutation could escape and leave the elderly especially exposed to the infection.
“The clear recommendation of our vaccination committee was and still is that the time difference between the first and second dose should be between three and a maximum of six weeks … Scientists have told us that the risk “Waiting may mean that there is no adequate protection against more virulent mutations. With that in mind, we stick to the original schedule.”