Corona pandemic: "We have to keep our cool for a few weeks"

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Hamburg's First Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) has no hopes for quick relief during the lockdown.

"We will have to continue the lockdown first," said Tschentscher at the virtual annual event of the North German trade association AGA before today's conference between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Ministers of the federal states.

"We will not be able to decide on any significant easing until we have a sound assessment of the speed at which the virus mutations are spreading in Germany," said Tschentscher.

Only then can appointments for easing steps and opening concepts be made and future plans implemented.

Tschentscher, who has a doctorate in laboratory medicine, said: "We have to keep our nerve for a few more weeks so as not to abandon the measures too early and then have to endure a third wave of infections." Chancellor Merkel is discussing the next steps with the Prime Minister today.

“In the coming weeks we will still have a certain amount of uncertainty about how the mutations will spread,” said Tschentscher.

Therefore, the group with the Chancellor "must be very cautious again".

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Tschentscher criticized the European Union for the management of the procurement of vaccines and the federal government for the slow disbursement of the so-called November aid to the companies closed because of the pandemic, especially the retail, catering and hairdressing sectors.

Regarding the vaccines, he said: “By the end of March we will still have a real deficiency management.” There will be significant progress in the supply of vaccine doses in the second and third quarters.

Then one could offer a vaccination to all citizens in Germany.

Regarding the November aid, which many companies have received only partially or not at all, Tschentscher said: “The federal states are ready to take over the disbursement and protection of the aid as soon as the Federal Ministry of Economics has completed the relevant programming.

There is a lack of that, which is why it is now important that the federal government does what it has promised - to create the IT requirements so that we can implement these programs in the federal states. "The Federal Ministry of Economics is headed by Peter Altmaier (CDU).