Berlin-Every weekday at 11am come to the Berliner Zeitung English Edition for the corona/Covid-19 news at a glance.
🚥 The latest corona stats for Berlin (tallied Monday, 14 December)
New cases in one day: 1,008 (548 Sunday)
Total number of corona deaths: 846 (+25 over Sunday)
🟢 R number: 1.02 (0.99 Sunday)
🔴 New infections per week: 197.5/ 100,000 inhabitants (192.3 Sunday)
🔴 Share of Berlin ICUs occupied by Covid-19 patients: 27.4 per cent (27.5 per cent Sunday)
Meistgelesene Artikel
Source: Berlin's coronavirus status page
The lowdown...
Buy early, buy often
The city's governing body, confusingly known as the Senat, Monday agreed to implement all the points of the federal government's hard lockdown. One small detail had previously been missed in the body's legislation: Alcohol sales are prohibited throughout the city from 2pm 31 December to 6am 1 January. Stock up now, is what I'm saying. Or, if you don't drink, that's cool too.
If that wasn't harsh enough, from tomorrow even having a Wegebier - enjoying a cold one outdoors - will be banned from tomorrow, Wednesday, 16 November. The same applies for Glühwein and every other kind of alcoholic bevvy.
More care home catastrophes
While many lockdown critics say the government should do more to protect those at risk and leave the rest of the population alone, it's becoming clear that care homes barely have basic protection. Mitte's Goldenherz home was hit in November, healthcare officials confirmed Monday, and so far at least 22 people have died, including one employee. 150 people, including 46 employees, caught the virus. Other homes in Reinickendorf and Kreuzberg have had similar outbreaks, though with fewer deaths. In the first such case earlier this year in a Lichtenberg home, management was replaced after it emerged that they hadn't followed the necessary procedures.
60 per cent vaccinated
Hey! Good news! Health minister and possible future chancellor candidate Jens Spahn (CDU) told a German public broadcaster that he expects 60 per cent of the country's population to be vaccinated by the end of the summer. The figure is signficant because epidemiologists say between 60 and 70 per cent need to be immune to create herd immunity and starve out a virus. Spahn Monday also took to Twitter to encourage the European Medicines Agency to approve a vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer. The delay is eroding confidence in the agency, he said, as its peers around the world have already permitted vacccinations to begin.
In case you missed it...
Efforts at better integrating the disabled in Germany have suffered a devastating blow from corona. Home residents can now have fewer visitors. There are also fears of triage should hospitals become overwhelmed.
That's all for now, folks. Stay safe!
Yours,
The Berliner Zeitung English team
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