German Health Minister Jens Spahn again called on his compatriots on Monday to get vaccinated in light of the number of coronavirus infections in recent weeks. Germany is being hit hard in the south and east by a new wave of infection, which experts and politicians say has a vaccination rate (68 percent) that is among the lowest in Western Europe.

Angela Merkel and her likely successors Olaf Scholz have decided to tighten up the measures for unvaccinated people, but they are ending mandatory vaccination for everyone. More than 99,000 people have died from Covid-19 in Germany since the start of the pandemic. “We are in the fourth wave and the situation is very difficult in many hospitals in Germany,” Spahn said on another.

Merkel: ‘Measures are no longer sufficient’

That gloomy message was reinforced on Monday by Chancellor Merkel. She warned her party members that the current corona measures are “no longer sufficient”, in light of the “very dramatic situation” caused by the wave of corona infections.

“We have a very dramatic situation. What applies now is not sufficient,” was quoted by participants in the CDU party meeting in Berlin. “We are facing a situation that will surpass anything we have experienced to date.” Even the 2G rule, which only gives vaccinated and cured citizens access to access and activities, would be inadequate.

Quick stop

Vaccination is important and right, but only works in the long term and not be able to stop current developments too quickly. The exponential rise must be stopped quickly if we do not want to hit the limit of the ability to act, the chancellor said, according to the sources. She had the impression that many people are not aware of the seriousness of the situation. Chancellor Merkel pointed to the number of new corona infections, which doubles every 12 days. On Monday, 68 percent of the German population was fully vaccinated. On the confirmed day, 30,643 new corona infections and 62 deaths were recorded.

According to experts, the situation at the German intensive care hospitals is deteriorating. receive 3,670 Covid-19- received intensive care. Nearly 1,200 of them were hospitalized during the week. In the hospitals of the parts of Bavaria, Thuringia and Saxony, the situation that is being established is until other planned and scheduled operations are postponed. In Saxony, the worst affected state, hospitals are preparing triage measures for.

Anxiety in the Netherlands

There is great concern about the corona situation not only in Germany. This is also the case in the Netherlands. To such an extent that on Monday the outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte made an urgent appeal to his population to better adhere to the basic measures against the corona virus. Otherwise, according to him, the government may not be able to afford to wait with additional measures until December 3, the day planning the next ‘weighing moment’ is planned.

According to Rutte, the Outbreak Management Team (OMT) agrees in his latest advice that too many people are letting go of the basic rules, for example by staying at home and testing for complaints, not keeping a distance and providing insufficient ventilation. The chance is “determining for the number of infections”, according to the prime minister.

“Exciting” in hospitals

The daily number of positive tests has been above 20,000 for days in a row. That number must be reduced if healthcare is not to be completely overloaded by the influx of corona patients. It is already “in the hospitals, exciting” According to “it is very important to see a turnaround in the days, also in the provision of the basic rules”.

The resigning government announced extra measures a week and a half ago to quickly reduce the number of infections. With, among other things, more limited opening hours for catering and shops and being the public at sports competitions, it hopes to inflict “a hard blow” on the virus. But it will certainly take until the end of the week before the effects of those interventions become visible, Rutte said. Nevertheless, it is already rumored that new projects will be planned at the end of this week.

Latest figures

The Monday morning figures show how precarious the situation is in the Netherlands: 23,066 new corona cases were registered on Sunday morning and Monday morning. That’s it at an all-time high.

151,196 infections have been confirmed in the past seven days. That is the highest weekly total ever. Last Monday, the limit of 100,000 positive tests in a week was passed for the first time, now the Netherlands is passing the limit of 150,000 positive tests in seven days for the first time.

The weekly total is 49 percent higher than last week, so the spread of the virus is not a pace. On average, it amounts to nearly 21,600 new cases per day. That higher income for the 53rd day in a row and that is almost a record.

In the past day, RIVM reported 29 reports that a corona patient has died as a result of the infection. For a Monday, that’s the highest number since February 22, exactly nine months ago. RIVM usually reports fewer deaths on Mondays. People who died during the weekend, often become the course of Monday, they are included in the figures that the RIVM publishes on Tuesday. Amsterdam, Dordrecht and Veenendaal each had three reported deaths last day.