Corona incidence in Berlin drops slightly today to 370.3 – but 203 Covid 19 patients in Berlin intensive care units. The occupancy rate of intensive care beds with Covid-19 patients was 19.1 percent on Wednesday, according to the situation report.
For the time being, the Berlin Senate does not intend to close restaurants and pubs again or introduce a nightly curfew in the fight against the Corona pandemic.
A spokesman for the Senate Health Administration made that clear. “We are focusing on clubs and dance clubs.” However, he said, the Senate is still waiting for the necessary legal basis to be able to close clubs and night bars, which are defined as establishments. In the House of Representatives, it is expected that there will possibly be a special session of parliament next week to authorize the Senate to take further steps against the spread of the pandemic.
On Tuesday evening, Berlin’s still-governing mayor, Michael Müller (SPD), spoke out about a Corona vaccination requirement in the RBB program “Wir müssen reden.” “The general vaccination obligation will be pushed through the Bundestag at the beginning of the year and I believe it will happen quickly,” RBB-Inforadio quoted Müller as saying on Twitter.
Agreed the Senate on the following restrictions:
The upper limits at events are to be pulled down, to 1000 people outside and 200 inside. Exceptions are to be possible for appropriate hygiene concepts, for example in sports. But the upper limits for these are to be lowered to 2500 people inside and 5000 outside. "With this decision, there would be no full stadiums," said Health Senator Kalayci. Especially in soccer, she said, she would like to see uniform regulations nationwide.
Closing clubs and bars: "We would prefer to close clubs today and also similar establishments. This is urgently necessary in this epidemiological situation," said the health senator. Legally, however, is not yet possible, because clubs and bars are considered establishments in the protection against infection. The law expressly excludes closures. Should bars and clubs be declared as recreational facilities by the federal government, closures would be possible - and wanted in Berlin.
Contact restrictions: If the House of Representatives agrees, the Senate wants to regulate private meetings again. A household would then only be allowed to meet with a maximum of two unvaccinated people from another household. There would be no restriction on meetings among the vaccinated and recovered. Children under 14 would also not be counted.
Christmas markets would be open only to vaccinated and recovered people, according to the Senate, and their proofs would have to be checked at the entrance. When asked that some Christmas markets could not be fenced in qua their location, Kalayci said, "If you can't make a fence around it, you can't run a Christmas market." Individual stalls around the markets, such as at Breitscheidplatz, should be subsequently banned. One wants to speak with the districts to take back the permissions again, and would have to talk then also about compensations.
The Berlin Senate also wants to restrict access to public buildings for visitors. Instead of just for staff, 3G should also apply to guests, Kalayci said.By the way, an acquaintance told me she had simply queued up at the vaccination station at Messe Berlin and got her vaccination after two hours in the cold. Customers with and without appointments stood in line together, for first, second or booster vaccinations.