Incidence at the highest level: criticism of the planned restriction in PCR

After the top meeting of the federal and state governments on the corona pandemic, criticism of the planned restrictions on access to PCR tests has increased. The prioritization of the PCR tests that has now been decided means that from this point in time the government has “no idea” “how high the number of infections really is,” said Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on Monday evening in the ARD “Tagesthemen”. "We were surprised and annoyed," Söder continued. The impending test shortage is "not a strong sign for logistics and material procurement in Germany". In his opinion, the discussions with the state colleagues and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) were overall “unsatisfactory because we only postponed it again”.

The heads of the federal and state governments had agreed on Monday evening to stick to the previous protective measures despite the sharp increase in the number of infections.

In addition, clinic staff and high-risk patients should be given priority in PCR tests.

However, the details have yet to be determined.

At the same time, "every effort should be made to increase PCR testing capacities."

The German Association of Cities has spoken out in favor of adapting the test strategy.

City council president Markus Lewe told the German press agency that the use of so-called POC-PCR tests, which do not require a laboratory and deliver quick results, could help to increase test capacities.

“But then the funding for these tests would have to be improved.

We could also imagine working even more with certified antigen tests instead of PCR tests for free testing from isolation and quarantine.”

Laboratories: Shortage of staff cannot be remedied quickly

Due to bottlenecks in the PCR tests, there should be prioritization: the federal and state governments refer to a decision by the health ministers that particularly vulnerable people and their carers and therapists should have priority, such as residents and staff of nursing homes. In addition, efforts are being made to increase capacity for PCR tests.

The Association of Accredited Laboratories in Medicine (ALM) called on politicians to talk about the intended expansion of PCR test capacities.

"We would have to know by how much the capacity should be increased and in what period of time," said Michael Müller, chairman of the German Press Agency.

It's about devices, about employees and also the question of what happens if the higher capacity is built up and then, in case of doubt, not needed.

At the editorial network Germany (RND) he explained: "We cannot expand the capacities at will from one day to the next." The chairman of the professional association of German laboratory doctors, Andreas Bobrowski, told the "Welt" that the lack of laboratory staff cannot be remedied for the time being.

Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus even insists on PCR testing options for all citizens, despite the bottlenecks.

“All citizens must have the opportunity to get certainty through a PCR test if they suspect corona or are infected, but also after they have survived the corona infection,” he demanded in the newspapers of the Funke media group.

For Left Group leader Dietmar Bartsch, the new test strategy is "not a breakthrough in effectively combating the pandemic, but a single communication chaos," as he told the Funke newspapers.

Seven-day incidence at peak

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has reported a significant increase in the nationwide seven-day incidence and thus a new high.

The RKI gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Tuesday morning as 894.3.

For comparison: the day before the value was 840.3.

A week ago, the nationwide incidence was 553.2 (previous month: 242.9).

The health authorities in Germany reported 126,955 new corona infections to the RKI within one day.

This is evident from numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5 a.m.

A week ago there were 74,405 infections.

Experts expect more and more cases that cannot be recorded, partly because test capacities and health authorities are increasingly at their limit.

According to the new information, 214 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours.

A week ago there were 193 deaths.

The RKI has counted 8,871,795 infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections go undetected.

The RKI gave the number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days as 3.87 on Monday (Friday: 3.77).

In five out of 16 federal states, the seven-day incidence is above 1000 – led by Berlin with 1593.5.

Thuringia (310.8) and Saxony (377.3) are currently the lowest.

The RKI gave the number of recovered people on Tuesday as 7,331,200.

The number of people who died from or involved a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 116,960.

Chancellor Scholz said on Monday after the prime ministers' conference that they would remain "on course".

The round had not decided to tighten or relax.

Criticism came from the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU).

It "was unsatisfactory because we only postponed it again," he said on Monday evening in the ARD "Tagesthemen".