Virus

Angela Merkel reins in German states with rules on easing lockdown

Chancellor says ‘emergency mechanism’ can be used to control local Covid-19 outbreaks

Angela Merkel has introduced some new ground rules for relaxing physical-distancing restrictions in an attempt to reassert her authority over Germany’s 16 federal states, some of whom have announced unilateral re-opening plans.

In recent days the German chancellor has struggled to preserve a fragile compromise over the introduction of nationwide lockdown measures bartered with federal states in mid-March.

But during a lengthy video conference on Wednesday afternoon, she managed to rein in some of the regional tearaways by introducing a new “emergency mechanism” that can be triggered to contain local Covid-19 outbreaks.

As latest official figures confirmed that the spread of the virus was slowing in Germany, Merkel and state premiers said people would be allowed to meet and move in public not just with members of their household but also with “persons belonging to one other household”.

Elderly people in risk groups still required “special attention”, Merkel said at a press conference, without categorically ruling out family reunions in smaller groups. The requirement to keep a 1.5m safety distance would remain in place.

However, the German leader said relaxing physical distancing rules would only be possible if the country adhered to a new “emergency mechanism”, whereby hospitals, care homes or entire municipalities would be put under lockdown if they accumulatively registered more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days.

If the consensus over lockdown measures appeared to have slipped from Merkel’s grasp in recent days, the new emergency mechanism represents a small victory for the chancellor following opposition from the northern city states of Hamburg and Bremen.

“We have to be careful that this thing doesn’t slip from our grasp,” Merkel said. She said Germany was following a “very open and brave path” by having avoided a stricter lockdown of the kind applied in France, Italy or Spain.

Further steps in the lockdown exit strategy involve the reopening of shops including department stores and shopping malls, as well as a phased reopening of restaurants and bars with new hygiene requirements by 22 May.

The German football league’s first and second division will restart “in the second half of May”, with the German football association to rule on Thursday whether games will kick off on the weekend of 15 or 22 May.

The decision on whether to reopen restaurants, hotels, cinemas, theatres and concert halls – and if so, when, and under what restrictions – has been delegated to the 16 federal governments.

Nurseries will expand emergency care to beyond families where parents qualify as “essential workers”. Elderly people in care homes will be able to select a “reference person” that is allowed to pay them visits.

The latest official figures in Germany appear to show that the first steps to relax physical-distancing restrictions have not had the dramatic impact on infection rates some had originally feared.

The number of new infections has in recent days repeatedly stayed below 1,000 and the virus’s reproduction number has stayed below one. Merkel spoke of a “very, very good development”.

New cases in S Korea linked to club goers

South Korean officials sounded alarm Friday after finding more than a dozen coronavirus infections linked to club goers in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.

The discovery raised fears of another surge in transmissions just as the country had eased on social distancing amid a slowing caseload in past weeks.

Earlier Friday, South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 12 fresh cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to midnight Thursday, which was the first time in five days that the daily jump came above 10.

But Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said at least 13 more cases were diagnosed in the following hours, all linked to a 29-year-old patient who visited three nightclubs in Seoul’s Itaewon district last Saturday before testing positive on Wednesday.

Kim said there was a “very high possibility” more infections will be confirmed as health workers are scrambling to trace the patient’s contacts. He said the clubs’ visitor lists show they received more than 1,500 customers combined on Saturday.

Of the 13 new cases confirmed on Friday, Kim says 12 were club goers, including three foreign nationals and one soldier, while the other was an office colleague of the patient who was first detected.

“A drop of ink in clear water spreads swiftly,” Kim said during a briefing, urging vigilance to maintain hard-won gains against the virus. “Anyone can become that drop of ink that spreads COVID-19.”

The country has not reported a daily jump above 100 since April 1, which allowed officials to ease social distancing guidelines, schedule the re-pening of schools and allow professional sports to return without fans in the stands.

Halászlé wrote:pa imamo aktivno žarište u fabrici Jura i niko ništa.

U Juri ukupno zaraženo od korone 35 radnika, najveći udar u maju, na bolničkom lečenju 21

Autor: Milica Ivanović
Objavljeno: 07.05.2020. u 16:28

Vršilac dužnosti direktora Zavoda za javno zdravlje (ZZJZ) Leskovac Aleksandra Nikolić iznela je danas konačne podatke za broj obolelih u korejskoj fabrici „Jura“, čija se epidemiološka situacija pogorašava poslednjih dana. Po njenim rečima, ukupno je od 4. marta zaraženo 35 radnika, a trenutno se u Covid bolnici u Leskovcu leči 21 zaposlen, računajući i sedmoro novoobolelih.

Nikolićeva, koja je i diplomirani epidemiolog, hronolški je iznela je na konferenciji za novinare broj obolelih. Virus korona prvi put se u Juri pomenuo i napravio paniku (p.n.) 4. marta zbog bolesnog supruga jedne radnice. Već 6. aprila potvrđeno je 6 slučajeva oboljevanja, a od 7. do 30. aprila potvrđivan je po jedan slučaj. Već 2. maja zabeležena su 3 slučaja, zatim 3. maja još 3, 4. još 2, 5. i 6. maja po 7 slučajeva, ukupno 35.

Uzeti su brisevi za još 200 radnika, a oni što su ranije poslati nisu stigli do današnje pres konferencije.

U međuvremenu, kazala je Nikolićeva, Zavod za javno zdravlje je dva puta izricao mere zabarane rada „Juri“ na po 14 dana ili pridržavanja mera da 50 radnika radi na prostoru od 5.000 metara kvadratnih, uz mere dezenfekcije i druge propisane zaštitne mere.

„Zavod za javno zdravlje je 5.5.2020.godine prosledio zahtev za hitan sastanak Republičkom štabu za vanredno stanje, komnadantu Kriznog štaba grada Leskovca i menadžmentu Jure zbog pogoršane epidemiološke situacije, s obzirom da smo toga dana imali 12 obolelih za poslednjih 48 sati.  ZZJ je na sastanku predložio protivepidemijske mere u skladu sa važećim propisima i preporukama, stavljanje zbog bliskih kontakata u samoizolaciju u trajanju od 14 dana, prema sada važećim propisima, i testiranje 200 zaposlenih koji nisu ostvarivali bliske kontakte zbog proširenog testiranja. Sada se prvi kontakti stavljaju u izolaciju, a drugi testiraju.

Kada je 6. maja registrovano još 7 slučajeva oboljevanja u Juri, istog dana stavljeno je 30 bliskih kontakata u samoizolaciju.

„Nastavljaju se ispitivanja bliskih kontakata i dalje i stavljanje u samoizolaciju, po propisama“, naglasila je Nikolićeva s napomenom da su i ranije preuzimane mere samoizolacije.