Chancellor complains her government does not yet have power to impose national lockdown
Angela Merkel has threatened to centralise Germany’s pandemic response as several of the country’s federal states refuse to implement an emergency brake mechanism on easing restrictions in spite of rapidly rising infection rates.
Related: Heroes to zeros: how German perfectionism wrecked its Covid vaccine drive
Continue reading...More areas of the country get mobility restrictions while Hungary and Poland face crises
Concern is mounting among health experts that France is not doing enough to curb a rise in coronavirus infections, particularly among younger people, as a third wave fuelled by the B117 variant first detected in the UK accelerates across Europe.
Announcing 45,000 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the French health minister, Olivier Véran, on Thursday banned outdoor gatherings of more than six people and added three more départements, including the area around Lyon, to 16 already placed under tougher mobility restrictions.
Continue reading...More sceptical member states hope ‘stick will never be used’ amid concerns over supply chain
EU leaders are likely to shy away from supporting the use of new powers to block Covid vaccine shipments to countries such as the UK with better jab coverage than the bloc, according to a draft statement ahead of a meeting of EU leaders today.
The European commission has increased its scope for blocking vaccine exports but disquiet among capitals is set to be reflected in a muted statement at the end of the virtual summit on Thursday evening.
Continue reading...Measure helps close legal loopholes that led to many victims’ descendants having applications rejected
The German government has agreed a draft law to naturalise some descendants of Nazi victims who were previously denied citizenship.
Described by Berlin as a symbolic step, the measure helps close legal loopholes that had led to many victims’ descendants having their citizenship application rejected.
Continue reading...Sage experts are worried about overseas breaks leading to rise in vaccine-resistant variants in UK
Lifting the ban on foreign holidays in the coming months could risk another lockdown next winter, Boris Johnson is being warned, amid mounting alarm about a third wave of infections sweeping continental Europe.
Scientific experts and opposition politicians are urging the government to be extremely cautious before loosening travel restrictions, with their concerns about the prevalence of new variants of the virus overseas increasingly shared by Whitehall.
Continue reading...Germany’s greatest living painter donates 100 works, including his Birkenau series, to capital’s new museum
Fans of the German painter Gerhard Richter are expected to flock to Berlin to view 100 works that he has in effect donated in a long-term loan to a new museum of modern art. The works include a series of paintings addressing the Holocaust that he has vowed never to sell.
The donation by the 89-year-old, who is one of the world’s highest-priced living artists, is destined for the Museum der Moderne, which is under construction in the German capital.
Continue reading...Berliners are impatient for vaccines and the country is poised to tighten restrictions as the third wave hits
Winters in Berlin are notoriously tough but this year has been like no other. “I’m really tired of it,” Ina Eggers, a teacher in the city, says. “Winter is always hard but now [with lockdown] we don’t have anything to do, so it’s been awful. ”
Germany is in the midst of a third wave of the pandemic, with case numbers increasing rapidly. On Saturday, the Robert Koch Institute reported 16,033 new Covid-19 infections within one day – 3,359 more than a week ago. In light of this, doctors are calling for an urgent tightening of lockdown rules to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed for the third time.
Continue reading...Germans pleased at lifting of suspension, as rise in infections threatens to overwhelm hospitals
Susanne Klaehr, a nursery worker in Berlin, arrived more than two hours early to receive an AstraZeneca jab at Tempelhofer Feld, on Friday as she didn’t want to miss her chance. “It’s a good day for me,” the 53-year-old said. “I even played loud music on the way here.”
Germany has resumed using the AstraZeneca vaccine after pausing its deployment along with many European countries on Monday over fears of a possible link to blood clots.
Continue reading...Decision to pause use of AstraZeneca jab could lead to more deaths as new variant cases increase rapidly
Large parts of Europe are at the start of a third coronavirus wave, experts have said, with warnings that the decision to pause the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over health concerns is likely lead to a rise in cases and a high number of deaths as more contagious new variants account for the majority of cases.
Christian Drosten, a leading virologist at Berlin’s Charité hospital said Germany’s epidemiological situation was “not good right now”, and was compounded both by the exponential rise in the spread of the B117 mutation which first originated in Britain that now makes up about three-quarters of new cases in Germany, and the decision to temporarily stop using Oxford/AstraZeneca. “We need this vaccine,” he insisted.
Continue reading...Decision has led to vaccination centres closing doors and appointments being cancelled
There has been chaos and confusion in Germany and Italy after their decisions to suspend use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, with vaccination centres closing their doors and appointments being abruptly cancelled.
The countries are two of the biggest on a growing list of European nations that have in recent days ordered a pause in the distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Continue reading...Analysis: the evidence for side-effects is scant but governments have other factors to consider
As France and Germany join Ireland, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands in suspending the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – even though the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization are advising people to continue taking it – the common refrain in European governments is that they are acting out of “an abundance of caution”.
There have been a handful of reports of blood clots in people recently vaccinated and also a rarer condition called thrombocytopenia, in which people do not make enough platelets. That can result in excessive bleeding. Deaths have been reported in Austria and Italy, which stopped the use of one batch of vaccine for fear it was contaminated. Meanwhile a further death from thrombocytopenia has been reported in Norway, as well as three hospitalisations.
Continue reading...State election results could be sign tide is turning against conservatives as country gears up for national poll
Angela Merkel’s party has slumped to historic lows in two former stronghold regions at state elections, in a sign that the tide may be turning against Germany’s conservatives just as the country gears up for a national vote in six months’ time.
The incumbent Green premier of Baden-Württemberg and the Social Democrat leader of Rhineland-Palatinate both look certain to retain their offices in the two south-western states, after exit polls showed significant losses for the second-placed Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on Sunday.
Continue reading...New variants blamed as Italy, France, Germany and Poland see infection rates surge
A third wave of the Covid pandemic is now advancing swiftly across much of Europe. As a result, many nations – bogged down by sluggish vaccination campaigns – are witnessing sharp rises in infection rates and numbers of cases.
The infection rate in the EU is now at its highest level since the beginning of February, with the spread of new variants of the Covid-19 virus being blamed for much of the recent increase.
Continue reading...Pragmatic state premier with flat-top ahead in polls as CDU faces defeat in country’s south-west
Winfried Kretschmann, a white-haired former biology teacher who has been the state premier of Baden-Württemberg since 2011, can look forward to this Sunday’s elections in his wealthy corner of south-west Germany with ease.
In the home state of Daimler, Porsche and Bosch, he has not just won the support of the metal and electronics industry, but that of conservative voters, 65% of whom have in surveys expressed their wish for the 72-year-old Catholic to retain his office.
Continue reading...Jab has already been ordered or used in some EU countries, and Italy could start producing vaccine in July
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine appears to be gaining acceptance in the European Union, as the head of Germany’s regulatory authority publicly praised the Covid-19 jab and Italy could become the first European country to produce the vaccine from the summer.
Thomas Mertens, the head of Germany’s standing commission on vaccination, described Sputnik V in an interview on Wednesday as “a good vaccine that will presumably also be approved in the EU at some point”.
Continue reading...Angela Merkel’s party tries to distance itself from pandemic deals scandal as elections loom
Corruption allegations and mounting frustration with Germany’s slow vaccination roll-out are threatening to damage Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in weather-vane state elections this Sunday, as the centre-right party is trying to distance itself from politicians whose companies are alleged to have made profits on the back of mask procurement deals.
In the south-western states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, voters will go to the polls this weekend while digesting the allegations that one lawmaker from the CDU and one from its Bavarian sister-party, the CSU, earned six-figure commissions for brokering deals to procure face masks during last year’s first wave of the pandemic.
Continue reading...In a video statement for International Women’s Day, the German chancellor said women were disproportionately affected
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has warned that the Covid-19 pandemic could endanger progress made on gender equality, as women take on the lion’s share of childcare in lockdown and are more likely to work in at-risk jobs.
“We have to make sure that the pandemic does not lead us to fall back into old gender patterns we thought we had overcome,” Merkel said in a video message ahead of International Women’s Day on Monday.
Continue reading...Anecdotal evidence suggests Muslims over-represented in ICUs, but Germany has no official data
German doctors are reportedly concerned about the large proportion of people from minority ethnic backgrounds among coronavirus patients in intensive care, citing a lack of proper communication with Muslim communities in particular about the dangers of the disease.
Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s disease control agency, confirmed that the issue was discussed with senior medical consultants last month, though he stressed the meeting was informal.
Continue reading...Both countries urged to take action to avoid pile-up of unused AstraZeneca vaccine doses
Authorities in Germany and France are under pressure to come up with creative solutions to shift the AstraZeneca vaccine at higher speed in order to avoid a pile-up of unused doses over the coming weeks.
On Monday, France’s medical regulator reversed its advice not to use the AstraZeneca jab on over-65s, and Germany’s vaccination committee is coming under increasing pressure to follow suit or even scrap prioritisation altogether.
Continue reading...Regulator concedes process had ‘somehow gone wrong’ and could soon approve vaccine
Germany could soon authorise the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for seniors after the head of the country’s vaccination committee said his body’s advice to give the Oxford-developed vaccine only to those under 65 had “somehow gone wrong”.
Unlike the European Medicines Agency or Britain’s MHRA, Germany’s Standing Committee on Vaccination (Stiko) last month recommended against the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on seniors, citing a lack of conclusive trial data to prove its efficacy in that age group.
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