Berlin Humboldt Clinic under quarantine - staff come with charter buses

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Hundreds of employees at a quarantined Vivantes clinic in Berlin are to commute through Berlin in charter buses from Monday.

This is intended to prevent mass infections from the mutated coronavirus variant, as reported by the "Tagesspiegel".

The minibuses are supposed to be used as shared taxis to collect the staff on duty at home and drive them home after the shift.

Around 1,500 doctors, nurses, administrators and technicians at the Humboldt Clinic in the Reinickendorf district are under quarantine after several cases of the so-called British virus variant have occurred there.

The clinic was closed on Saturday, as the responsible health authority announced.

The hospital is blocked for admitting new patients, for outpatient diagnostics and for outpatient interventions.

Around 400 patients are currently being cared for there.

Initially, 20 people at the Humboldt Clinic had tested positive for the British coronavirus variant B.1.1.7 by Sunday.

According to the clinic, there are 14 patients and six employees.

According to the report, a patient at the Vivantes Clinic Spandau is also affected by the coronavirus variant.

The man was moved there from Reinickendorf and has been isolated since then.

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Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) told the “Berliner Zeitung” that the outbreak in the Humboldt Clinic caused him great concern.

“Everything must now be done to further reduce the number of infections, and we are on the right track nationwide, but especially in Berlin.

Carelessly breaking off this path would be fatal. "

He believes the debate about easing the measures after the lockdown, initially agreed until mid-February, is premature.

"Now to talk about concrete data for easing, where we can hardly foresee how the British mutant will affect in the next three weeks, I think currently makes little sense," said Müller.

The virus type B.1.1.7 had so far mainly occurred in Great Britain.

According to experts, the variant is more easily transferable and possibly more deadly than the previous one.

In coordination between the clinic, Reinickendorf Health Department and the Robert Koch Institute, a temporary admission freeze is imposed by order of the Health Department, and emergencies are brought to other hospitals.

Berlin laboratories are now specifically looking for mutations.