Corona Ticker: WHO chief pushes for “historic” pandemic agreement

News about Corona from May 21, 2023

Because of Corona: WHO chief is pushing for a “historic” pandemic agreement

Monday, May 22, 2023 at 06:13: After the devastating effects of the coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) is pushing for a “historic” deal to deal with future pandemics. “We cannot simply continue as before,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Sunday at the opening of the UN organization’s annual meeting in Geneva. Until the end of the month, the WHO member states will discuss, among other things, how to deal with global health risks, including possible future pandemics.

Specifically, better prevention of pandemics and a possible better handling of them than with Corona is currently being discussed. Negotiations on a corresponding international agreement are still in the early stages, but should be completed by the next WHO annual meeting in May 2024.

“The pandemic treaty that the member states are currently negotiating must become a historic treaty,” Tedros demanded. There must be a “paradigm shift in global health policy”. It must be recognized that “our destinies are connected”.

During the corona pandemic, there were repeated accusations, especially against rich industrialized countries, that they were only pursuing their own interests and, for example, ignored the needs of poor countries when it came to vaccines. According to the WHO, at least 20 million people died worldwide as a result of the corona pandemic.

Citizens had to pay that much because of corona violations in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Sunday, May 21, 9:14 a.m.: The districts and urban districts in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania imposed fines of a good 1.2 million euros from 2020 to the beginning of 2023 for violations of the corona protection measures. This emerges from the response of the state government to a small request from AfD member of parliament Martin Schmidt. The government had started a query with the municipalities to answer.

According to this, the regulatory offices initiated more than 14,100 administrative offense proceedings, almost 7,500 ended with a fine. According to the information, most of the procedures were in the Vorpommern-Rügen district with around 4,000. The sum of the fines was also highest there at around 457,000 euros in the years 2020 to 2022. According to earlier information from the district, the most common violations were contact restrictions and the entry of foreigners, which was now prohibited.

In Schwerin, fines totaling 282,000 euros were imposed up to and including 2023, and 220,000 euros in Rostock. The district of Ludwigslust-Parchim ranks at the lower end of the scale with fines of around 4800 euros. There, the authorities initiated only 254 procedures, 45 of which led to a fine.

WHO: Pandemic wiped out more than 300 million years of life

Friday, May 19, 4:21 p.m.: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 336.8 million years of life were lost as a result of deaths related to Covid-19. According to the statistical yearbook of the UN health authority, which was published in Geneva on Friday, this estimate makes the true extent of the pandemic clear.

The WHO attributes a total of around 14.9 million deaths to the coronavirus in 2020 and 2021 alone. The organization calculates that on average a life was shortened by around 22 years each time.

According to WHO statistics, the pandemic also had a negative impact on the global fight against communicable diseases because vaccination and health services were temporarily no longer offered. As a result, vaccinations against measles, tetanus and other diseases have declined, while malaria and tuberculosis have increased.

Away from Corona, the WHO expressed concern that the annual number of deaths from noncommunicable diseases will increase to around 77 million per year by the middle of this century – almost 90 percent more than in 2019. Even before 2019, the WHO recorded significant increases in fatal heart, respiratory and cancer diseases. This trend was mainly driven by the increase in world population and life expectancy. However, the likelihood of dying from such diseases has decreased for people around the world in recent decades, the WHO emphasizes.

Virologist Drosten insulted: charges brought against Berlin campers

Wednesday, May 17, 8:12 p.m.: The Neubrandenburg public prosecutor’s office has brought charges against three Berliners who are said to have insulted the prominent virologist Christian Drosten at a campsite in the Mecklenburg Lake District. A 48-year-old man is accused of defamation, insult and attempted coercion, a spokesman for the authority said on Wednesday. In addition, his wife and an acquaintance are also accused of publicly insulting the virologist at the end of June 2022 on the camping site near Wesenberg. Drosten gained nationwide fame as an expert in the corona pandemic, but was also often confronted with hostilities.

The accused are said to have described Drosten in front of other campers, among other things, as a “mass murderer” and “criminal”. In addition, it had been claimed that he was wrongly holding scientific titles. According to Drosten, he only stayed briefly at the campsite, left as planned and reported the incidents.

According to the prosecutor, the accused wanted to drive the virologist out of the campsite. In addition, cell phone recordings of him are said to have been distributed against Drosten’s will. The district court in Waren an der Müritz is now to negotiate the charges.

Less asthma in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania during the corona pandemic

Tuesday, May 16, 6:15 a.m.: According to an AOK study, there was a slight decrease in asthma during the corona pandemic in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In 2021, around 52,300 residents in the north-east took asthma medication prescribed by a doctor – around 600 fewer than in 2019. The evaluation of the AOK’s scientific institute was published on Tuesday.

The health insurance company attributes the slight decrease in asthma cases to the corona protection measures. As a result, infections of the respiratory tract in MV decreased by 35 percent, which had a positive effect on the frequency of asthma.

Asthma could occur as a result of lower respiratory tract infections. After the end of the corona measures, however, the number of respiratory infections increased again by leaps and bounds, which is why the insurance company also assumes that the number of asthma will increase again.

In the years before the corona pandemic, the number of asthmatics in MV had continued to increase, it was said. Nevertheless, the north-east is the least affected in a nationwide comparison. According to AOK, around 3.25 percent of residents in the Northeast were taking prescription asthma medication in 2021. The nationwide average was almost four percent.

The inhabitants of Thuringia suffer most frequently from asthma that can be treated with medication (4.55 percent). According to the AOK, the most important risk factors include allergic diseases, a genetic predisposition, inflammation in the ear, nose and throat area, obesity, tobacco smoke and air pollution.

The results of the AOK study are said to be representative. Data of own insured were extrapolated to the total population. Around every fourth resident of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is insured with the AOK Nordost.

G7 health ministers want to advance long-Covid research

Sunday, May 14, 3:08 p.m.: The seven leading industrialized countries (G7) want to advance research on longer-lasting impairments after corona infections. G7 health ministers meeting in Nagasaki, Japan, highlighted the need to understand more about Long Covid and its consequences, according to the German government in Sunday’s final statement.

Federal Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) said: “We will work flat out to develop new therapies and improve care.” This could be all the more successful the more countries involved. The consequences of the pandemic have not yet been overcome.

The G7 department heads therefore intend to launch a research initiative on Long Covid, partly on the initiative of Germany. This is to be specified next year under the Italian presidency, as it was also said. Lauterbach said: “The G7 initiative gives hope to millions of long-Covid sufferers worldwide.”

The G7 group also includes the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan.

In the case of short-time work, a return to the old rules is planned

Saturday, May 13, 3:24 p.m.: For short-time work in Germany, the rules that were set before the corona pandemic should soon apply again. Easier access to short-time work benefits will last until the end of June, but will not be extended after that. Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) told the “Rheinische Post” (Saturday) that “the economic development and the situation on the labor market are currently better than we could have expected in the fall.”

First because of the Corona consequences and then because of the energy price crisis, Heil had facilitated access to short-time work benefits by regulation. The proportion of employees who must be affected by a loss of work before short-time work can take effect has been reduced – from at least one third to at least ten percent. Heil last extended this rule change in December 2022 until the end of June. It is now to be withdrawn again in the middle of the year. Companies can then apply for short-time work benefits again according to the old rules.

“Today, for example, we have the highest level of employment that the Federal Republic has ever had – despite the Corona crisis and the war in Ukraine,” said Heil. The issue now is securing skilled workers. “We will invest more money in the qualification and further training of employees. At the same time, the Federal Employment Agency must be able to build reserves again for future crises.”

There are currently only 162,000 employees on short-time work, at the height of the Corona crisis in spring 2020 there were six million. “In the years 2020 to 2022 we spent a total of 45.5 billion euros on short-time work benefits. That’s an enormous sum,” the minister summed up. But it paid off. In a study, the International Monetary Fund found that without the special regulations, unemployment would have risen by three percentage points at the peak of the crisis in the second quarter of 2020. “That corresponds to around 1.3 million people who we saved from unemployment with short-time work,” said the SPD politician. “Companies have been able to retain their skilled workers and it has stabilized aggregate demand.”

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