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COVID-19

Is Germany heading for post-Christmas lockdown measures?

The rapidly spreading Omicron variant is leading health experts and politicians to believe that another partial lockdown will be necessary in Germany.

Published: 20 December 2021 12:01 CET
A red traffic light shines on the beach promenade in the Baltic Sea resort on the island of Usedom
A red traffic light shines on the beach promenade in the Baltic Sea resort on the island of Usedom. Photo: picture alliance/dpa Stefan Sauer

Although the Omicron variant has so far been spreading more slowly in Germany than in other countries, such as the UK, experts believe that this is likely to change quickly. 

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the nationwide 7-day incidence of new Covid infections rose slightly again on Monday to 316 cases per 100,000 people, up from the previous day of 315.4.

Though this number has dropped significantly from the previous week, when the incidence was at 402.9, the numbers are expected to shoot up again if Omicron takes hold. 

Covid summit on Tuesday

On Tuesday, the federal and state governments will hold a special summit to discuss the Covid situation and further action in light of the spread of the Omicron variant. It is expected that new Covid restrictions will be decided upon in this meeting, 

In anticipation of the summit, the German government’s Covid Expert Council called for action “in the coming days”. In a statement, the panel expressed the need for “well-planned and well-communicated contact restrictions”.

READ ALSO: German government advisory panel urges fresh Covid measures to fight Omicron

The panel’s scientists have concluded that booster vaccinations alone won’t be able to hold back the Omicron wave and that contact restrictions will be necessary.

Carsten Watzl, Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology, reiterated the need for new contact restrictions, telling the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper: “We will have to bring the incidences that are shooting up with Omicron down very sharply, and we will not succeed in doing that now, in this fourth wave, with booster vaccinations, but only by bringing back distancing  and contact restrictions”.

READ ALSO: Germany must prepare for ‘massive’ Omicron wave, warns Health Minister

No lockdown before Christmas

As the federal and state governments are firstly meeting on Tuesday, December 21st to  discuss further restrictions, it is unlikely that lockdown measures will be brought before December 25th. 

On Sunday, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach ruled out a lockdown before Christmas, telling the news a German broadcaster: “No, a lockdown – like in the Netherlands, before Christmas – we will not have that here”.

READ ALSO: Hold Christmas parties in Germany online to stave off Omicron, says RKI

Green Party health politician Janosch Dahmen also stated that a lockdown will not come into force until after the holidays.

“Given the extremely high transmissibility of Omicron, we will probably not be able to avoid a lockdown after Christmas. One possible scenario would be a well-planned lockdown in early January,” he said.

However, he also urged people to restrict Christmas celebrations to small family circles and to keep taking tests. 

North Rhine-Westphalia’s state premier  and chairman of the Conference of Minister Presidents, Hendrik Wüst (CDU), sees the prospect of tighter contact restrictions coming in around the turn of the year. 

He told ARD television that he does not consider further restrictions to be necessary as early as Christmas, but that “we won’t be able to have the big New Year’s Eve bash”.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

READ ALSO: 

People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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