A health worker cares for a Covid-19 patient in the ICU ward at Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, on Tuesday, January 12, 2021. Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that Germany will face tough closure measures by the end of March stared if the authorities do not succeed contains a rapidly spreading variant of the coronavirus.
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LONDON – German health authorities are concerned about the rising coronavirus infections in the country and said a nationwide exclusion is needed to end the ongoing third wave.
Germany has had high Covid infection rates since October last year, and despite an improvement in February, the number of new cases has risen since the end of March.
“Many citizens recognize the need to break this wave with additional measures, and the majority are in favor of stricter rules. It needs one time to break the current wave,” Jens Spahn, German health minister, said Friday. said a press conference.
This third wave of coronavirus puts pressure on the country’s health system at a time when local and federal governments are battling over the right measures to take.
“The number of intensive care patients is increasing far too fast. Doctors and nurses have been under constant stress for months and are sounding the alarm,” Spahn said.
“We need to break the third wave as quickly as possible. That means reducing contact and reducing mobility. That’s the only way to prevent further increases.”
The country reported more than 30,000 new Covid cases on Wednesday and about 26,000 on Thursday.
German officials were divided over the right approach to tackling increasing issues, while citizens became frustrated about the different arrangements between different regions.
But on Friday, reports emerged that Chancellor Angela Merkel was prepared to introduce nationwide measures and effectively take control of local leadership. Merkel said earlier that Germany needed a stricter and more uniform approach across the country.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told CNBC earlier this week: “If we could come up with similar measures in all places, it would help a lot and make it more understandable.”
This comes as the German health authorities push for an increase in vaccinations in the country, which are already bearing fruit. On Thursday, the daily vaccination number approached 720,000 compared to about 317,000 a week ago, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
“I think we’ll get into a situation where it’s going to be 4 to 5 million doses a week by the end of this month,” Scholz told CNBC.
Sputnik V
The health minister confirmed at Friday’s press conference that contract negotiations to buy the Russian-developed vaccine Sputnik V are now underway, according to Reuters. Spahn added that there is nevertheless a question mark over whether these vaccines will be available in the coming months.
The European Medicines Agency began assessing the Russian shot in early March and will decide whether it is recommended for use in the 27 EU member states. Although the regulator uses an urgent method to test the effectiveness of Sputnik V, it is unclear when it can finally be approved.
Authorities in Germany had earlier said they would consider the Russian vaccine if the EMA concluded that the shot was effective in preventing the Covid-19 virus.