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Berlin (dpa) - The pressure on politics is growing: After the first easing and test projects, there are increasing demands from science for a new hard lockdown.
The situation in the third wave of pandemics is unfortunately "very serious and very complicated," said Charité virologist Christian Drosten in the NDR podcast "Coronavirus Update".
All that remains for him is the “mallet”.
Medical officers are also calling for a consistent lockdown.
Within three weeks, the nationwide seven-day incidence - that is, the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week - doubled.
While the value was 65 on March 10, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) put it on Wednesday as 132.
The number of Covid patients in intensive care units had recently increased again.
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According to her own statements, Chancellor Angela Merkel has not yet decided what a stricter nationwide course to combat the corona pandemic could look like.
"The process of reflection is not yet over," said the CDU politician on Tuesday evening.
"I just know that in view of the third wave that we are in, it is important to do everything possible to break this wave as quickly as possible."
The Chancellor had criticized some of the countries on Sunday evening in the ARD program "Anne Will" for not implementing the agreed resolutions against the pandemic.
If that does not happen "in the very foreseeable future", she would have to think about how this could be regulated nationwide.
"I think it will not work without a new lockdown in order to delay this dynamic, which has now undoubtedly set in," said Drosten.
"It is clear that contacts have to be reduced."
The prediction of the models for the third corona wave has unfortunately been exceeded.
This week, the number of records of the British variant B.1.1.7 will reach over 90 percent.
It is clearly more disease-causing and deadly than the original virus, said the virologist.
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"Relaxation means that people have too many contacts," said the chairman of the Federal Association of Doctors in the Public Health Service, Ute Teichert, of the "Rheinische Post" (Wednesday).
Combined with the high number of cases, traceability is said to be "difficult or even impossible" for the health authorities.
If contacts from infected people cannot be tracked, the pandemic will get completely out of control.
Vaccinations couldn't break the third wave yet.
Especially not if the vaccine from the manufacturer Astrazeneca fails for the first time for people under 60 in order to clarify the cause of very rare cerebral vein thromboses in vaccinated people.
Reducing the number of cases is therefore crucial, added Teichert.
"This can only be done with a consistent lockdown."
At the same time, concepts would have to be developed as to how easing could be possible with a test and vaccination strategy and apps for digital tracking - “but only when the number of cases is down”.
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So far, there has been a patchwork of measures in the federal states and municipalities - from trying out far-reaching test strategies such as in Tübingen to night exit restrictions such as in Brandenburg or Mainz.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210331-99-41238 / 2