The virologist Christian Drosten is withdrawing from a commission for the scientific assessment of the state corona restrictions in Germany.
Unfortunately, Drosten informed him that he would no longer accompany the evaluation of the Infection Protection Act for the Federal Government and Parliament, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) announced on Twitter on Thursday.
"It's a heavy loss because nobody could do it better." The head of the Institute for Virology at the Charité Berlin remains a member of the Federal Government's Corona Expert Council.
The Bundestag had stipulated in the Infection Protection Act that there should be an external evaluation of the requirements in the context of the epidemic situation of national importance that had been in place for several months.
A committee of experts was set up for this purpose, which according to the law is supposed to submit a report by June 30th.
Scientists from various disciplines belong to the committee.
A Charité spokeswoman confirmed on request that Drosten had informed the committee of his withdrawal.
He had come to the conclusion that the equipment and composition were not sufficient to be able to guarantee a scientifically high-quality evaluation.
In addition, in the past few weeks, the content of the consultations has repeatedly become the subject of misleading and incorrect reporting.
"From Prof. Drosten's point of view, this stands in the way of constructive, targeted cooperation in the committee." After all, the members are bound by strict confidentiality.