Germany’s third wave of COVID “seems broken”, says Minister of Health | Coronavirus pandemic news

Jens Spahn welcomes progress in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, but warns against lifting the restrictions early.

The German health minister has celebrated a drop in coronavirus transmission rates in the country, referring to physical distancing measures and an accelerating vaccination campaign.

“The third wave seems broken,” said Health Minister Jens Spahn on Friday at a weekly press conference on German pandemic management.

Spahn’s comments came when the head of the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, Lothar Wieler, confirmed that the incidence of COVID-19 infections has declined in all age groups in the country.

The institute recorded 18,485 new infections in the 24 hours leading up to Friday, compared to 27,543 in the same period two weeks ago.

Germany has recorded more than 3.5 million coronavirus infections and 84,410 deaths since the pandemic began last year.

Spahn said the infection rate has fallen due to efforts to reduce social contacts and travel in recent weeks.

He also cited the rapid increase in vaccinations as a factor. The mass vaccination efforts got off to a slow start.

Spahn said that around 26.2 million people, or around 31.5 percent of the German population, have now received at least one vaccine dose. Almost nine percent received a full dose of two syringes.

Around 900,000 people received a dose on Thursday that would put Germany “in the fast lane” by international standards, said Spahn.

Germany gives the all-clear for AstraZenecea

To expedite the vaccination campaign, health officials on Thursday allowed all adults to give the AstraZeneca syringe – lifting previous restrictions imposed after reports of rare cases of blood clotting.

The decision followed the steps taken by several German federal states to enable people to receive the AstraZeneca vaccination in consultation with their doctors.

“We are convinced that this offer is attractive to those who would otherwise not be vaccinated so quickly,” said Spahn, adding that a million doses of the vaccination would be delivered to doctors’ offices next week.

However, despite the apparent progress in containing infections, Spahn cautioned against reopening some areas of public life too quickly, warning that such a move “posed a risk.”

Some of the 16 German federal states have started to re-allow restricted tourism and outdoor dining.

Spahn said the Germans would have to endure “weeks or a few months” of restrictions for the country to get the pandemic fully under control.

Laws passed last month allowed the federal government to impose severe restrictions, including night curfews, closings and contact restrictions, in areas where cases exceed 100 per 100,000 residents for three consecutive days.

Even stricter measures can be taken in areas where registered cases rise above 165 per 100,000 population.

Four federal states – Brandenburg, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein – are now below the decisive threshold of 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to dates compiled by the Robert Koch Institute.

Three more – Berlin, Rhineland-Palatinate and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – are also on the verge of breaking that number.