Contrary to previous plans, the Bundeswehr is once again putting up to 10,000 soldiers on alert in order to help out where civilian forces are no longer sufficient in view of the rapid increase in corona diseases.

This means that the level of alerting has reached the level at the height of the heyday of the infection process last winter.

At the same time, the number of infections within the troops is also increasing.

According to information from the Bundeswehr, around 800 soldiers were acutely ill with Covid-19 at the weekend.

That corresponded to an increase of one hundred percent within two weeks.

Peter Carstens

Political correspondent in Berlin

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As a justification for the many cases, the Ministry of Defense pointed out, among other things, the close physical cooperation in many areas.

As the online portal "Augen straigeaus" reports, there are probably major difficulties with vaccination rates.

Accordingly, around a quarter of the Bundeswehr members have not been vaccinated.

Exact figures would not be published.

Attempts by the political and military leadership of the house to introduce a general compulsory vaccination for all men and women in the armed forces have so far failed.

“Duty to tolerate” for the corona vaccination?

For missions abroad, for example in Mali, all soldiers must be vaccinated. Likewise, for equivalent commitments, for example in naval missions or for NATO in Lithuania. In practice, however, significant gaps have recently been identified there as well. As far as the domestic market is concerned, there is a “tolerance obligation” for soldiers with certain vaccines when it comes to vaccinations. However, this does not currently apply to vaccinations against Corona. Negotiations between the ministry and the staff representatives have allegedly been going on for months with the aim of including corona vaccinations in the group of mandatory basic vaccinations. However, so far without any result.

As far as the operations of the Bundeswehr against Corona are concerned, more than 8,500 cases have been approved since the beginning of the pandemic, where soldiers have helped with contact follow-up, in homes or with the vaccination campaign. According to current figures, 74 orders for around 650 soldiers are in progress. Most of the women and men deployed in the Bundeswehr help track contacts made by infected people. A stronger increase is expected in the armed forces base. According to a spokesman for the ministry, the commander of the Bundeswehr Territorial Tasks Command, Major General Carsten Breuer, “instructed only fully vaccinated soldiers to be used in administrative assistance”.

The incumbent Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), meanwhile, called for more speed with the booster vaccinations and a rapid establishment of limit values ​​for hospitalization, above which drastic measures would have to be taken. This threshold must be chosen “wisely so that the necessary measures are not taken too late,” said Merkel in her weekly podcast.

Meanwhile, three Greens health ministers criticized the planned expiry of the nationwide corona exemption. In a joint statement, Kai Klose (Hessen), Ursula Nonnemacher (Brandenburg) and Manne Lucha (Baden-Württemberg) wrote, “In view of the current infection dynamics and the burden on hospitals, which in some regions are already on the verge of absolute overload, the should epidemic situation of national importance ”. Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) warned of new highs for the death rate and predicted that necessary restrictions would continue until Easter next year. The politician told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag: "We are only at the beginning of a harsh winter - the wave that we have before us,will overshadow all previous waves. "

In Kretschmer's federal state, the number of infections has risen locally to 1200, twelve times that of Schleswig-Holstein or ten times the state average in Lower Saxony. At the same time, the vaccination rate in Saxony is particularly low. In addition to Saxony, Bavaria has by far the largest number of new cases. The districts of Rottal-Inn (incidence 1198) and Saxon Switzerland (incidence 1153) recorded nationwide highs.

Without going into the low vaccination quota in Saxony, Prime Minister Kretschmer blamed the not yet formed traffic light government for the situation: “The culpable hesitation and irresponsible talk of the traffic light already has consequences.” Kretschmer said before: “This fourth The wave will demand more victims, including more fatalities, than anything we have known before. ”It must be held out until Easter.

"This wave will not be over before then."