Chancellor Scholz has corona again
The Covid wave is rolling through Germany and many people have already fallen ill. Now Olaf Scholz has also been hit. This is "clearly not a surprise that I am happy about", says the Chancellor. Above all, he has one hope.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz has fallen ill with coronavirus again. "My current Covid-19 tests show two strokes," the SPD politician wrote on X. This is "clearly not a surprise that I am happy about". Scholz added: "With few symptoms, I'm counting on a mild course and am just working from my desk for now."
The Chancellor's schedule actually included receiving the "Cultural Integration Initiative" paper on Monday afternoon and receiving Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico on Tuesday, followed by chairing a meeting of the Federal Cabinet on Wednesday.
Scholz was infected with the virus for the first time in September 2022. At that time, he also only suffered from mild symptoms and went into isolation in his apartment in the Chancellery.
Call for vaccinations
The number of infections with acute respiratory diseases is currently increasing rapidly. Corona, colds and flu are still or increasingly on the rise, according to data published by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) last week. The report on the situation in the week up to December 10 estimates around 7.9 million acute respiratory illnesses nationwide (previous report: 7.1 million), regardless of visits to the doctor. After corona in particular has dominated for some time, the RKI recently announced the start of the RSV wave (RSV stands for respiratory syncytial virus). Now flu cases are also increasing significantly.
Despite basic immunity through vaccinations and infections in the population, severe cases are not completely a thing of the past. A corona infection can still make you "quite ill", said Charité expert Leif Sander recently on RBB. "Even the kind of manifestations we saw a few years ago." Reasons could be a vaccination that was given a long time ago or not good immunization. He therefore considers a certain degree of caution to be advisable: Voluntarily wearing a mask in a very crowded subway, for example, is sensible - also to protect against other viruses.
The German Hospital Association (DKG) already appealed to the population at the end of November to get vaccinated against the flu and coronavirus. The current wave of illness is not only having an impact on outpatient care, but also on hospitals, DKG CEO Gerald Gaß told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.
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Despite the increasing number of coronavirus and other respiratory illnesses, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz has urged people to get vaccinated, citing the recent surge in Covid-19 cases and the start of the RSV wave. This appeal comes as Scholz himself tests positive for Covid-19 for the second time, highlighting the ongoing threat of the virus.
Source: www.ntv.de
