Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier signs the new Epidemic Protection Act with a federal emergency break. This was announced by the Office of the Federal President. This law must be published only in the Federal Law Gazette for it to take effect.

The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe received its first urgent application before the decision of the Federal Council on Law. Attorney Klaus Fingernail, along with law firms in Berlin and Munich, announced that he had filed a constitutional complaint. Just as the Social Democrats member of the Bundestag Florian Post did, so did the free voters and the FDP.

Pinkernell told the German Press that his main concern was that the law often withdrew proceedings from (administrative) judicial control, and that the value of the event did not apply uniformly, especially as the exit restrictions were disproportionate. If the law comes into force, he will prepare more constitutional complaints, including about restaurants.

Free voters want action against the federal emergency break with a dual constitutional complaint. Federal President Hubert Ivanker said on Thursday when the first complaint was lodged in Berlin that its purpose was to protect the “free rights” of citizens. Free voters are initially up against more than 100 seven-day incidents against the nationwide night curfew order. With the second constitutional complaint, they want to reduce the planned emergency brake rule for retailers. In Bavaria, free voters sit in government alongside CSU.

The federal emergency brake passes the Federal Council

The Federal Council allowed the Corona Emergency Break to pass the amended Infection Protection Act amid massive criticism. At a special session on Thursday, the regional chamber avoided convening an arbitration panel on the law that the Bundestag had passed the previous day. There is no formal referendum. The law must now be signed by federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and published in the Federal Gazette.

This emergency break is aimed at ensuring that the same rules apply nationwide in each district if the number of new infections per 100,000 population exceeds 100 in a week. These include shops and leisure facilities and a night curfew order from 10pm to 5am. Retail should be open to 150 events with “click & meet” and negative testing. Schools and day care centers are set to close with 165 or more events. Terms apply if the event exceeds the critical value for three consecutive days. The changes will initially apply until June 30.

Countries criticize anti-epidemic laws – but want to cooperate

Even before the end of the Bundestack, some state leaders criticized the federal emergency brake for not going far enough. However, all prime ministers agreed not to block the passage of the Infectious Diseases Protection Act.

Prime Minister of Thuringia Bodo Ramelo (left) told MDR: “We could have saved this federal emergency break if we had agreed to a nationwide step-by-step plan at the first prime ministerial conference in February.” The Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Manuela Swazik, has criticized the revised Infectious Diseases Protection Act as inadequate. A Social Democrat politician on the ZDF said there was much of an emergency break behind the rules agreed at the prime ministerial conference. He will follow strict rules in his country.

Shellswick-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Gunder also sees problems for his federal state, which previously had dire needs, due to the nationwide Corona emergency break. “For example, those schools should now be open until 165. So far we have very strict control here,” said a CDU politician in Thailand. The Prime Minister of the German press, Baden-W்டrttemberg, Winfried Gretchmann (Greens) said, “This law will be implemented one by one.” In most event circles the government actually considered a strict curfew order from 9pm to 5am.

Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Trayer also pledged his state approval to the Federal Council. “Despite criticizing the individual points, they will not raise any objection to the Rhineland-Palatinate Infection Protection Act because we are continuing to implement the measures already discussed on a large scale and in some places are surpassing them,” Trayer (SPD) said in an initial statement in the newspaper. Reinich Post.

The six prime ministers who spoke at the debate in Puntasrat expressed considerable concern. However, due to the ongoing corona epidemic, they felt the need for action and therefore did not want to stop the law.

Federal Council President Rainer Hasseloff (CDU) was, above all, critical of the transfer of powers to the federal government. “Today is a low point for me in the federal culture of the Federal Republic of Germany,” Saxony-Anhalt said at a special session of the Federal Council on Thursday. The House of States advises a law that “its creation, structure and results are unsatisfactory.” Charlende Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) stressed: “Whether changing this capability to the federal level represents the best way to fight an epidemic, this evidence has not yet been produced and should be prepared.”

Hess’s prime minister, Volker Boufier (CDU), said in a statement that it was “appropriate” to reduce the number of cases. Nevertheless, he said he was skeptical about the particular regulation and expressed legal and practical concerns, which also touched on the question of whether the rules should be accepted by the population. “You want citizens to be partners,” Buffier said. At the same time, he described the accusation that countries were “disabled” as “nonsense.”

“This is not a big win for infection protection,” said Stephen Weil (SPD), head of government in Lower Saxony. That may require him to control the exit at night. On the other hand, there are constitutional concerns, and Weil expects the law to end before the federal constitution in his own words.

Spawn: The priority of vaccinations can be canceled in June

Federal Health Minister Jens Spaun believes the priority of vaccines against the corona virus could be eliminated by June. A CDU politician told the Federal Council on Thursday that half of people over the age of 60 in Germany are currently vaccinated at least once. In May, the priority group 3 vaccination may begin accordingly. It suggests that federal and state governments can “raise the priority later in June”.

RKI reported 29,518 new infections

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) records 29,518 new infections within 24 hours. This is 92 more than last Thursday. The seven-day event rises from 160.1 the previous day to 161.1. The value indicates how many people per 100,000 citizens have dropped the corona virus in the last seven days. Another 259 people have died from the virus. This increases the death toll to 80,893. In total, more than 3.21 million people in Germany have so far been tested positive for the corona virus.

World Medical President Defends Federal Emergency Brake

The president of the World Medical Association defended the federal emergency brake on the corona epidemic against criticism. “From an international perspective, it has been successful in preventing epidemics in all states, and it has been consistently and consistently implemented and large-scale measures have been taken to prevent communications,” said Frank Ulrich Montgomery. Oxburger Alzheimer’s. “We can take an example from this. This is what the Infection Protection Act does.”

Commenting on the allegations that the limit values ​​specified in the law are arbitrary, Montgomery said: “Of course, any limit value can be denied. Every action is questionable and some rules are the result of political horse-trading rather than science.” But now it is right and good to want to act consistently, consistently and forcefully.

The Federal Council wants to decide this Thursday on the extended Infection Protection Act – the Federal Emergency Break. Once the number of new corona infections per 100,000 population has increased to more than 100 in three days a week, the law should apply the same rules to each district and each independent city. Bundestack passed the law on Wednesday.

There is no flu epidemic

With only 519 cases confirmed so far in the laboratory, the decades-long weak flu season in Germany is coming to an end. An RKI spokesman said in a statement that the criteria for influenza outbreaks had not been met, as defined by the Influenza (AGI) team operating at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). This means: “There is no flu epidemic this season.” This is a novelty since the flu monitoring was started by a task force established in 1992. Most of the other countries in the Northern Hemisphere were protected from the waves.

In its weekly report released Wednesday evening, the AGI writes that more than 184,000 infections were confirmed by laboratory diagnoses at this time in the previous year. “The cycle of influenza viruses will remain at a very low level for the 2020/21 season.” Reporting statistics reflect only a fraction of what actually happened. AGI monitors the season using other indicators.

A total of 13 laboratory-confirmed flu-related deaths have been reported so far this season, the report said. In previous seasons it was usually a few hundred each, during the severe waves of 2017/18 it was almost 1700. According to RKI estimates, the actual numbers are significantly higher: for example, for 2017/18, an estimated 25,000 people died. The severity of the flu epidemic usually varies from year to year.

The RKI confirmed that corona activities with minimum distances, hygiene, masks, recommendations for ventilation rooms, home office regulations and temporary school closures were the reasons for the absence of the epidemic wave. According to the RKI, influenza viruses did not spread globally, even in the southern hemisphere by the summer of 2020, as these measures were “more or less used in all countries around the world against the corona epidemic”.

Something else has changed in the epidemics: interest in the flu vaccine was higher than usual, especially at the onset of the first and second corona waves. According to data from the Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance (G), such vaccinations were carried out from March to December 2020 over the same period of the previous year.

More vaccine doses released than in previous years: 25 million. The federal government purchased additional doses to avoid further burden on the health system in the Corona crisis.