Covid19 in Germany the last week
23.05.2021: Germany is largest donor to the WHO
Geneva (dpa) - Germany has become a kind of WHO champion in the pandemic: No country has increased its contributions so significantly. For the WHO budget 2020-21, Berlin is transferring the equivalent of around 900 million euros, almost four times as much as in the previous two years. Germany has gone from being the fifth largest donor to the largest by far. With 30 percent less, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is behind as things stand today, according to a WHO budget analyst.
A WHO pandemic early warning centre is also being built in Berlin, which Germany is funding with 30 million euros. Here, supercomputers will analyse vast amounts of data on animal and human diseases from all over the world. The aim is to sound the alarm before a pandemic breaks out at the slightest sign of a possible threat.
22.05.2021: Biontech: 2 billion doses of vaccine for poorer countries
Rome (dpa) - The 20 most important industrialised and emerging countries (G20) want to prevent health crises in the future with stronger international cooperation in the production and distribution of vaccines. Vaccine manufacturers pledged to supply poorer countries with more than one billion Corona vaccine doses by the end of the year at a digital world health summit in Rome on Friday. Vaccine manufacturers Biontech and Pfizer, for example, plan to deliver a total of two billion doses of their Corona vaccine to poorer countries this year and next year. The recipient countries are reportedly to pay either only the manufacturing costs or a "low-cost price", depending on the possibility.
21.05.2021: Europe-wide Covid 19 certificate is coming
Brussels (dpa) - Just in time for the summer season, the EU countries and the EU Parliament have agreed on details of a Europe-wide certificate for the proof of Corona vaccinations, tests and survived Covid 19 diseases. This increases the chance of further travel facilitation in the EU. However, it is still unclear when exactly the digital European Covid certificate will be introduced in the individual countries.
20.05.2021: Ciesek: No failure of vaccination with Indian variant
Frankfurt/Hamburg (dpa) - According to the Frankfurt virologist Sandra Ciesek, the Indian variant of the coronavirus can weaken the effect of the vaccination, but not eliminate its protection. The B.1.617 mutant, which is already circulating in dozens of countries, recently had a share of less than 2 per cent in Germany, although the trend is increasing. "The variants from India have a slight immune escape, i.e. a slightly reduced effectiveness," said the director of the Institute for Medical Virology at the University Hospital Frankfurt on Tuesday in the NDR podcast "Das Coronavirus-Update". What is observed is "a slight limitation, but not a complete failure of the vaccinations".
19.05.2021: Bundeswehr plant supplies 400,000 litres of oxygen a day for India
New Delhi (dpa) - 400,000 litres of concentrated oxygen per day are produced by the plant in New Delhi that the Bundeswehr recently flew to India. It filters ambient air and compresses oxygen, which is then bottled, as Lieutenant Colonel Claas Gärtner, spokesman for the team of medical soldiers from Germany, explains. This more concentrated oxygen is needed for patients whose lung function has been severely impaired by Corona. Ventilation is intended to ensure that the organism is supplied with sufficient oxygen.
18.05.2021: Vaccination prioritisation to be lifted
Berlin (dpa) - Vaccination prioritisation is to end on 7 June 2021. This was decided by Health Minister Jens Spahn on Monday evening after consultations with his state colleagues. The priority lists according to age, diseases and occupation, which have been introduced since the start of vaccination five months ago, are then to be dropped in practices and regional vaccination centres. In three weeks, company and private doctors are also to be vaccinated regularly. However, Spahn also said: "This does not mean that we will then be able to vaccinate everyone within a few days. I must continue to ask for patience." It will take until the summer to be able to vaccinate everyone who wants to.
17.05.2021: Biontech greatly expands vaccine production
Mainz (dpa) - Biontech has increased its production capacity for this year from the original 1.3 billion vaccine doses to up to three billion, CEO Ugur Sahin said when presenting economic data. Of that, more than 40 per cent is expected to go to middle- and low-income countries, he said. Biontech will also establish a subsidiary in Singapore and set up a production facility for the mRNA vaccine there, Sahin said. "Together with other vaccine developers, more than enough vaccine will be produced in the next nine to 12 months and there is not the slightest need to cancel patents."
16.05.2021: Willingness to vaccinate rises sharply
Berlin (dpa) - More than 30 million people in Germany have already received a first Corona vaccination - and in the next few months it is likely to be at least as many again: Since the start of the vaccination campaign in Germany almost five months ago, the willingness to be vaccinated has increased significantly. This is the result of a YouGov survey commissioned by the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. According to the survey, 74 percent of Germans over the age of 18 want to be immunised against the coronavirus. Shortly before the start of the vaccination campaign on 27 December, only 65 percent had decided to be vaccinated. At that time, 19 percent refused the immunisation, now it is only 15 percent. The proportion of undecided people has dropped from 16 to 11 percent since the end of December.
15.05.2021: Seven-day incidence again below 100
Berlin/Quakenbrück (dpa) - Health offices in Germany have reported 7,894 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) within one day. This is according to figures released on Saturday morning. The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants reported within seven days was 87.3 nationwide on Saturday morning, according to the RKI (previous day: 96.5; previous week: 121.5). Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn has described the further decline in the number of new corona infections in Germany as encouraging. The fact that the nationwide seven-day incidence had fallen below the threshold of 100 for the first time since 20 March gave cause for confidence, he said on Friday during a visit to the Bundeswehr pharmacy in Quakenbrück, Lower Saxony. However, the situation varies greatly across the country, as there are districts with an incidence value of 35, but also those with over 200.
14.05.2021: Germany relaxes entry regulations
Berlin (dpa) - In view of falling Corona infection figures across Europe, the German government has removed a major hurdle to summer holidays abroad: with a decree in force since Thursday, it lifted the general quarantine requirement for entry from more than 100 countries. Among them are some of the most popular holiday destinations for Germans, such as Spain, Italy, Greece, Austria and Switzerland. Anyone entering Germany from these countries can be exempted from quarantine by taking a negative Corona test. This test is obligatory for air travellers anyway. For those who have recovered and have been fully vaccinated against Corona, the relaxation goes even further. They only have to be quarantined if they come from an area with new virus variants. Vaccinated and recovered people who come to Germany from the approximately 190 other countries in the world also no longer have to be tested for Corona before or after entering the country. The regulation is the most far-reaching relaxation of entry regulations since Corona began spreading in Germany at the beginning of last year.
Geneva (dpa) - Germany has become a kind of WHO champion in the pandemic: No country has increased its contributions so significantly. For the WHO budget 2020-21, Berlin is transferring the equivalent of around 900 million euros, almost four times as much as in the previous two years. Germany has gone from being the fifth largest donor to the largest by far. With 30 percent less, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is behind as things stand today, according to a WHO budget analyst.
A WHO pandemic early warning centre is also being built in Berlin, which Germany is funding with 30 million euros. Here, supercomputers will analyse vast amounts of data on animal and human diseases from all over the world. The aim is to sound the alarm before a pandemic breaks out at the slightest sign of a possible threat.
22.05.2021: Biontech: 2 billion doses of vaccine for poorer countries
Rome (dpa) - The 20 most important industrialised and emerging countries (G20) want to prevent health crises in the future with stronger international cooperation in the production and distribution of vaccines. Vaccine manufacturers pledged to supply poorer countries with more than one billion Corona vaccine doses by the end of the year at a digital world health summit in Rome on Friday. Vaccine manufacturers Biontech and Pfizer, for example, plan to deliver a total of two billion doses of their Corona vaccine to poorer countries this year and next year. The recipient countries are reportedly to pay either only the manufacturing costs or a "low-cost price", depending on the possibility.
21.05.2021: Europe-wide Covid 19 certificate is coming
Brussels (dpa) - Just in time for the summer season, the EU countries and the EU Parliament have agreed on details of a Europe-wide certificate for the proof of Corona vaccinations, tests and survived Covid 19 diseases. This increases the chance of further travel facilitation in the EU. However, it is still unclear when exactly the digital European Covid certificate will be introduced in the individual countries.
20.05.2021: Ciesek: No failure of vaccination with Indian variant
Frankfurt/Hamburg (dpa) - According to the Frankfurt virologist Sandra Ciesek, the Indian variant of the coronavirus can weaken the effect of the vaccination, but not eliminate its protection. The B.1.617 mutant, which is already circulating in dozens of countries, recently had a share of less than 2 per cent in Germany, although the trend is increasing. "The variants from India have a slight immune escape, i.e. a slightly reduced effectiveness," said the director of the Institute for Medical Virology at the University Hospital Frankfurt on Tuesday in the NDR podcast "Das Coronavirus-Update". What is observed is "a slight limitation, but not a complete failure of the vaccinations".
19.05.2021: Bundeswehr plant supplies 400,000 litres of oxygen a day for India
New Delhi (dpa) - 400,000 litres of concentrated oxygen per day are produced by the plant in New Delhi that the Bundeswehr recently flew to India. It filters ambient air and compresses oxygen, which is then bottled, as Lieutenant Colonel Claas Gärtner, spokesman for the team of medical soldiers from Germany, explains. This more concentrated oxygen is needed for patients whose lung function has been severely impaired by Corona. Ventilation is intended to ensure that the organism is supplied with sufficient oxygen.
18.05.2021: Vaccination prioritisation to be lifted
Berlin (dpa) - Vaccination prioritisation is to end on 7 June 2021. This was decided by Health Minister Jens Spahn on Monday evening after consultations with his state colleagues. The priority lists according to age, diseases and occupation, which have been introduced since the start of vaccination five months ago, are then to be dropped in practices and regional vaccination centres. In three weeks, company and private doctors are also to be vaccinated regularly. However, Spahn also said: "This does not mean that we will then be able to vaccinate everyone within a few days. I must continue to ask for patience." It will take until the summer to be able to vaccinate everyone who wants to.
17.05.2021: Biontech greatly expands vaccine production
Mainz (dpa) - Biontech has increased its production capacity for this year from the original 1.3 billion vaccine doses to up to three billion, CEO Ugur Sahin said when presenting economic data. Of that, more than 40 per cent is expected to go to middle- and low-income countries, he said. Biontech will also establish a subsidiary in Singapore and set up a production facility for the mRNA vaccine there, Sahin said. "Together with other vaccine developers, more than enough vaccine will be produced in the next nine to 12 months and there is not the slightest need to cancel patents."
16.05.2021: Willingness to vaccinate rises sharply
Berlin (dpa) - More than 30 million people in Germany have already received a first Corona vaccination - and in the next few months it is likely to be at least as many again: Since the start of the vaccination campaign in Germany almost five months ago, the willingness to be vaccinated has increased significantly. This is the result of a YouGov survey commissioned by the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. According to the survey, 74 percent of Germans over the age of 18 want to be immunised against the coronavirus. Shortly before the start of the vaccination campaign on 27 December, only 65 percent had decided to be vaccinated. At that time, 19 percent refused the immunisation, now it is only 15 percent. The proportion of undecided people has dropped from 16 to 11 percent since the end of December.
15.05.2021: Seven-day incidence again below 100
Berlin/Quakenbrück (dpa) - Health offices in Germany have reported 7,894 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) within one day. This is according to figures released on Saturday morning. The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants reported within seven days was 87.3 nationwide on Saturday morning, according to the RKI (previous day: 96.5; previous week: 121.5). Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn has described the further decline in the number of new corona infections in Germany as encouraging. The fact that the nationwide seven-day incidence had fallen below the threshold of 100 for the first time since 20 March gave cause for confidence, he said on Friday during a visit to the Bundeswehr pharmacy in Quakenbrück, Lower Saxony. However, the situation varies greatly across the country, as there are districts with an incidence value of 35, but also those with over 200.
14.05.2021: Germany relaxes entry regulations
Berlin (dpa) - In view of falling Corona infection figures across Europe, the German government has removed a major hurdle to summer holidays abroad: with a decree in force since Thursday, it lifted the general quarantine requirement for entry from more than 100 countries. Among them are some of the most popular holiday destinations for Germans, such as Spain, Italy, Greece, Austria and Switzerland. Anyone entering Germany from these countries can be exempted from quarantine by taking a negative Corona test. This test is obligatory for air travellers anyway. For those who have recovered and have been fully vaccinated against Corona, the relaxation goes even further. They only have to be quarantined if they come from an area with new virus variants. Vaccinated and recovered people who come to Germany from the approximately 190 other countries in the world also no longer have to be tested for Corona before or after entering the country. The regulation is the most far-reaching relaxation of entry regulations since Corona began spreading in Germany at the beginning of last year.
