The Berlin Spectator
Ultimate magazine theme for WordPress.

Lauterbach: ‘People Deserve a Good Protection Against the Coronavirus’

Germany’s Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is worried the Coronavirus will cause severe issues in fall. In an interview with ARD television, he said he expected the infection numbers to increase substantially because of BA.5.

Berlin, July 2nd, 2022 (The Berlin Spectator) — Professor Karl Lauterbach is not optimistic in regard to the Corona situation in Germany in the upcoming cold season. “It will be a difficult fall, and we need to be prepared on time”, he said in the ARD news broadcast ‘Tagesthemen’. According to him, “adjusted vaccines” which are supposed to improve people’s protection against the Coronavirus, might be available in late October.

Subscribe to The Berlin Spectator‘s newsletter. You will never miss articles or features again.

Assessment Report

The Health Minister stated he expected high infection numbers which could lead to an overburdening of Germany’s critical infrastructure and blamed the Omicron subtype BA.5. It is already dominating Germany’s infection situation. Existing vaccines could at least protect people from severe disease progression, Lauterbach said. But the country needed to act quickly to prepare for the fall.

Germany’s Corona Expert Council just released an assessment report about the anti-Corona measures that were put in place since the Coronavirus first hit Germany in early 2020. But the result is not really conclusive. The Council said members of both Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ government, and the one run by his predecessor Angela Merkel, had not communicated the risks of Corona and the decisions that had been taken well enough.

Good Protection

According to the experts, lockdowns do make sense, at least when few people are infected and many need to be protected. But the more infections there were, the less effective they were. The Expert Council said the local health authorities had been overburdened while they had tried to track down ‘contact persons’ and casted doubt on this practice. But they largely approved the ‘2G’ and ‘3G’ rules that restricted access to restaurants and other public places, and the mandatory mask rule the former government had put in place.

Now that the results are in, Karl Lauterbach announced he and Justice Minister Marco Buschmann had started deliberations about the new Infection Protection Act that was needed. “We will quickly get to regulations that will protect the citizens in fall and winter”, the Health Minister said. “The people want a good protection, they deserve a good protection, and this is exactly what we have to offer.”

New Infections

Now, eleven days into the summer, the number of new Coronavirus infections in Germany is already high. The country’s Seven Day Incidence just reached 696.5. Since yesterday, 98,669 new Corona infections were reported and 103 Corona patients died. The northwestern state of Schleswig-Holstein is Germany’s Corona hotspot right now, with an Incidence of 1,082.7.

The Berlin Spectator needs your support. Do we enjoy asking our readers for donations? No. We wish we did not have to, but we do. The truth is that this publication is on shaky ground.
You can support us via Paypal (one-time or monthly donations) or become a patron on Patreon (monthly donations). If you want to, you can read our Donations Page first.
We thank our regular supporters very much. Without you, we would have given up a while ago.
But, in order to make The Berlin Spectator a stable project, the support urgently needs to increase. Would you consider becoming a supporter? Thank you.

error: Content is protected !!