Germany Mulls Lockdown Extension amid ‘Exponential’ Coronavirus Infection Spread

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Coronavirus cases in Germany are rising at a “very clearly exponential rate”, a top public health institute said Friday, as the EU’s biggest country debated tightening a shutdown. The vice president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, Lars Schaade, told reporters that highly contagious virus variants were getting the upper hand, wiping out progress seen last month in containing the pandemic.

“It is very possible that we will have a similar situation over Easter to the one we had before Christmas, with very high case numbers, many severe cases and deaths, and hospitals that are overwhelmed”. The RKI on Friday reported 17,482 new infections in the previous 24 hours and 226 deaths in Germany, with the seven-day incidence rate soaring to 96 per 100,000 people despite a months-long shutdown of large swathes of public life.

German leaders agreed earlier this month to impose new restrictions in regions where the seven-day incidence rate surpassed 100. The country’s second city of Hamburg said it would pull the “emergency brake” from Saturday after exceeding the 100-mark three days in a row. Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin, also crossed the benchmark on Friday.

“We are in the third wave of the pandemic, the numbers are rising, the percentage of virus mutations is high,” Health Minister Jens Spahn told the news conference. Spahn, who this week faced growing calls to resign amid frustration with the government’s pandemic management, called on Germans to refrain from spring break travel to help curb infections.

The grim news came as Germany resumed administering AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 jabs after the European regulator EMA assessed it was “safe and effective” to use.

‘Short, sharp’ restrictions

Amid a widely criticised sluggish vaccination campaign, Germany decided on Monday, along with most EU governments, to suspend use of the vaccine for the EMA to examine a handful of cases of cerebral vein thrombosis that emerged. Doctors will now have to inform patients about the possible blood clotting risk before giving them the jabs.

Critics had complained that the decision to halt use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine over the last days only served to fuel mistrust over the jabs and further delay Germany’s inoculation programme. By Thursday, only 3.8 percent of the German population was reported fully immunised.

Spahn said the resumption of the AstraZeneca vaccinations combined with expected new arrivals of jabs from other manufacturers in April should speed up the German campaign.

But he admitted that “an honest analysis of the situation shows that there aren’t enough vaccines in Europe to stop the third wave with vaccination alone”. He said it would take several weeks before even those in the highest risk groups were fully inoculated and warned that the country should brace for an extension of current restrictions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with the country’s 16 state leaders on Monday to set new shutdown rules based on the latest pandemic developments.

Karl Lauterbach, a public health expert from the Social Democrats, junior partners in the government, said there was for now no alternative to keeping restaurants, most shops and entertainment venues closed. “You can look at it any way you want, we have to go back to lockdown,” he said, calling for “short, sharp” restrictions. “The sooner we react, the shorter the lockdown will need to be.”

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Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Not Exporting Vaccines at Expense of Indians, Says Health Min on Cong Charge

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The suspensions were not limited to Europe, with Indonesia also announcing a delay to its rollout of the jab, which is cheaper than its competitors and was billed as the vaccination of choice for poorer nations. But the WHO insisted countries should keep using the vaccine, adding that it had scheduled a meeting of its experts on Tuesday to discuss the vaccine’s safety. “We do not want people to panic and we would, for the time being, recommend that countries continue vaccinating with AstraZeneca,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said. “So far, we do not find an association between these events and the vaccine,” she said, referring to reports of blood clots from several countries.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is holding a special meeting on Thursday, echoed the WHO’s calls for calm and said it was better to get the vaccine than not. “The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing Covid-19, with its associated risk of hospitalisation and death, outweigh the risks of side effects,” the agency said in a statement Monday. The UK has doled out more than 11 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab — more than the entire EU — apparently without major problems.

As policymakers struggled to manage vaccine rollouts, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced she had tested positive — underlining the continuing threat of the contagion. She tweeted that she would continue to work virtually and the government added that she had “a low fever but no other symptoms and is generally feeling well”.

Italy provided another reminder that the pandemic was far from over — most of the country re-entered lockdown on Monday with schools, restaurants, shops and museums closed. The streets of central Rome were quiet on Monday morning and businesses already battered by a year of anti-virus measures braced for another hit. “I’m staying open because I’m selling cigarettes, otherwise it would not be worth it,” said Rome coffee shop owner Carlo Lucia. “It’s just a waste of money.”

Meanwhile, intensive care doctors in Germany issued an urgent appeal for new restrictions to avoid a third wave as the British variant takes hold there.

More than 350 million vaccines have now been administered globally, but poorer countries are still lagging far behind. Brazil, which has suffered one of the world’s worst outbreaks, is attempting to redress the balance, announcing the order of more than 138 million jabs on Monday.

The European Union has approved four jabs so far, and is monitoring others — including Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. The Russian developers said on Monday they had reached production agreements in key European countries.

The news came as the WHO said it had raised nearly $250 million in the past year from individual donors and companies towards battling the pandemic. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the fund’s success proved “what we can accomplish together in times of need”.

More than a year after his organisation declared the coronavirus threat a pandemic, a much-anticipated report on the origins of Covid-19 is expected to be released this week.

The report follows a fact-finding mission of international experts assembled by the WHO, which travelled in January to the Chinese city of Wuhan where the virus first emerged in December 2019.

“Within the next few years, we’re going to have real significant data on where this came from and how it emerged,” said British zoologist Peter Daszak, one of the team members.

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Germany, France, Italy Suspend Use of AstraZeneca Vaccine Amid Blood Clot Reports

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Germany, France and Italy on Monday became the latest countries to suspend use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine over reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients, though the company and European regulators have said there is no evidence the shot is to blame.

ALSO READ: No Evidence Of Increased Blood Clot Risk From Vaccine, Says AstraZeneca

Germany’s health minister said the decision was taken on the advice of the country’s vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which called for further investigation into seven reported cases of clots in the brains of people who had been vaccinated.

“Today’s decision is a purely precautionary measure,” Jens Spahn said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would likewise suspend shots at least until Tuesday afternoon, when the European Union’s drug regulatory agency will weigh in on the vaccine. He said France hopes to resume using the formula soon.

Italy’s medicines regulator also announced a precautionary, temporary ban.

AstraZeneca said on its website that there have been 37 reports of blood clots out of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the 27-country European Union and Britain. The drugmaker said there is no evidence the vaccine carries an increased risk of clots.

In fact, it said the incidence of clots is much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and is similar to that of other licensed COVID-19 vaccines.

The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization have also said that the data does not suggest the vaccine caused the clots and that people should continue to be immunized.

The AstraZeneca shot has become a key tool in European countries’ efforts to vaccinate their citizens against COVID-19. But Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines are also used on the continent, and Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine has been authorized but not yet delivered.

In the US, which relies on the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, AstraZeneca is expected to apply any day now for authorization.

Blood clots can travel through the body and cause heart attacks, strokes and deadly blockages in the lungs. AstraZeneca reported 15 cases of deep vein thrombosis, or a type of clot that often develops in the legs, and 22 instances of pulmonary embolisms, or clots in the lungs.

Denmark last week became the first country to temporarily halt use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in recent days to investigate. It said one person developed clots and died 10 days after receiving at least one dose. The other countries include Ireland, Thailand, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Congo and Bulgaria.

Last week, Germany and France were among the nations that stuck by the shot, while Italy suspended only a specific batch of the vaccine. Britain is standing by AstraZeneca’s vaccine for now.

Spahn, the German health minister, said of the decision to suspend the AstraZeneca shot: “The most important thing for confidence is transparency.” He said both first and second doses of the vaccine would be affected by the suspension.

German authorities have encouraged anyone who feels increasingly ill more than four days after receiving the shot — for example, with persistent headaches or dot-shaped bruises — to seek medical attention.

Germany has received slightly over 3 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Spahn said about 1.6 million doses of the shot have so far been administered in the country.



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Men’s Hockey Team Coach Graham Reid

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The Indian men’s hockey team needs to work on its defence, said coach Graham Reid. Reid said that the biggest learning he took from their recently concluded tour of Europe was that the team allows the opposition to come back into the game in the middle periods of matches too often.

“We will go over the data from this tour once we return to SAI, Bengaluru but the first things that requires attention is making sure we tighten our defence. We allow them (opponents) to come back in the middle (of the game) a bit too much. The last match was a little bit better. We are starting to make some ground on that,” said Reid in a release from Hockey India.

“We go back to Bengaluru from here and will be training there for a few weeks before we set out on another tour of our FIH Pro League matches in Argentina. I believe the next few months leading up to Tokyo (2020 Tokyo Olympics) are going to be busy for us with competition and some training in between where we will work on the things we need to. The Olympic year has well and truly started now for us and we need to accelerate our learnings,” he said.

India secured a 6-1 win and 1-1 draw against Germany in Krefeld, Germany. They followed this up with a 1-1 draw and 3-2 win against Great Britain in Antwerp, Belgium.

ALSO READ | Indian Men’s Hockey Team Stay Undefeated in Tour of Europe

“Our performances against Germany were mixed. It was pretty good beating them 6-1, we took them by surprise and made good use of the opportunities, but we let too many PCs in,” said Reid.

“The second game saw better defensive efforts from us. The third against GB was OK. It was a bit colder in Antwerp, different pitch and perhaps we didn’t play as well as we should have. But the last game (where India beat GB 3-2) was first-class. We led most of the game, came back twice from a stalemate, scored in the last few minutes which is a really important thing to get over,” he further said.

India’s Pro League tie against Argentina will be held in Buenos Aires on April 10 and 11.

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Indian Men’s Hockey Team Stay Undefeated in Tour of Europe

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The Indian men’s hockey team played out two draws and got two victories in their four games on their tour of Europe with matches against Germany and Great Britain.

The games were planned to help the Indian men’s hockey team prepare well for the postponed Tokyo Olympics, with almost no match practise due to the coronavirus pandemic. The last played India were on the field was back in the FIH Hockey Pro League in January and February last year where the team took on the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia in Bhubaneswar.

Tour captain PR Sreejesh had stressed on the importance of the matches against top European sides and how it would help the world no. 4 team in preparations for the delayed Summer Games.

“These matches against Germany and Great Britain are super important for our preparations. It is an opportunity to test ourselves tactically, physically and mentally,”

GERMANY 1-6 INDIA

In their first international match in over 12 months, the Indian men’s hockey team outclassed hosts Germany 6-1 on February 28.

Nilakanta Sharma (13′), Vivek Sagar Prasad (27′, 28′), Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (41′), Akashdeep Singh (42′) and Harmanpreet Singh (47′) were goalscorers for India as they dominated hosts Germany, who got their only goal from Constantin Staib in the 14th minute.

GERMANY 1-1 INDIA

In their next match, on March 3, the Indian men’s hockey team drew 1-1 with Germany. Jarmanpreet Singh opened the score for India in the 4th minute as Martin Haner scored for Germany minutes from the end of the 2nd quarter.

India’s head coach Graham Reid was a happy man with him stressing on the learnings from the games played at Krefeld.

“This match was a good experience for our players. It was a tough match and the team worked hard. Both teams created opportunities and I believe we will learn a lot from this game,” Ried told Hockey India.

GREAT BRITAIN 1-1 INDIA

The Indian men’s hockey team took on Great Britain in their third and fourth games in Antwerp.

In the first game, on March 6, against Great Britain, India salvaged a 1-1 draw as Simranjeet Singh’s late equaliser in the 57th minute cancelled out Great Britain’s Alan Forsyth opener late in the second quarter.

GREAT BRITAIN 2-3 INDIA

India put up a splendid performance in their last game on the Tour of Europe as they beat Great Britain 3-2 on March 8. Harmanpreet Singh’s goal in the very first minute and double goals by Mandeep Singh in the 28th and 59th minute helped India remain undefeated as James Gall (20′) and striker Adam Forsyth (55′) scored for Great Britain.

CAPTAIN SPEAK

PR Sreejesh, who was leading the team on tour in the absence of regular skipper Manpreet Singh, stressed again the importance of the matches.

“Getting enough international matches is more important for us at this moment. We are focussing on performing better than before. We want to get back into the normal rhythm, where we left last time. From there, we need to start and improve,” Sreejesh told TOI.

“About Germany, we started on a good note. [In the] Second match they played a bit differently, but still we managed to hold them, ” said Sreejesh about the two games played in Germany.

“They have a very good defensive structure. In the first match, we punished them for their mistakes. In the second game, they played more carefully, more defensive hockey, and managed to stop our forwards from scoring,” he added.

COACH SPEAK

Head coach Graham Reid told TOI that he was ‘happy’ with performances in the matches and it provided an indication to plans which can be in place for Pro League and the Olympics.

“I was really happy with the German part of the tour. The team we played [against] is pretty much the team they [Germany) fielded against the Dutch yesterday [on Sunday in the Pro League match]. I think we would have warmed them up,” Reid told TOI.

“I am very happy the way it [matches against Germany] went. Competition was very strong and we played such a different game of hockey, different styles. Our guys experienced that and now we have videos to analyse, work to do,” Reid added.

ALSO READ | India Need to Work on Defence: Men’s Hockey Team Coach Graham Reid

STAR PERFORMERS

India’s defence, led by Sreejesh in goal, conceded just 5 goals in their four games.

Mandeep Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Harmanpreet Singh all scored two goals overthe four goals. The constant pressure of the mid-field in covering their defence in foiling attacks and helping out in the attacking third.

UP NEXT

The Indian men’s hockey team will return to India on March 10 after the completion of the European tour. Their next outing will on the road again with their first away Pro League fixture in Argentina on April 9 and 10.



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Resilient Indian Men’s Hockey Team Draw 1-1 with Germany

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Indian men’s hockey team’s second of their four-match tour of Europe ended in a 1-1 draw with both the teams living up to their billing on Tuesday. Jarmanpreet Singh of India opened the score board for India in the fourth minute while Martin Haner scored for Germany.

Riding high on confidence after a dominating 6-1 win in their first international match of 2021, the world No.4 India started on an attacking note against host Germany and earned a penalty corner in the fourth minute, which was converted by defender Jarmanpreet Singh with a classic slap shot.

Within the following two minutes, the hosts also bounced back and got their chance to score an equaliser with a penalty corner but could not capitalise.

The visitors continued to dominant in the second quarter, with better ball possession, creating potential opportunities with intent to capitalise on the early lead. However, the quarter ended with the hosts putting pressure on the Indian men with strong man-to-man tackle.

The hosts backed their tactical play with some quick forays into the striking circle, resulting in them earning back-to-back penalty corners. It was in their second attempt when the experienced Martin Häner levelled the score 1-1 minutes ahead of the half-time break.

Continuing the momentum, the third quarter saw Germany keeping the ball in the Indian half to create scoring opportunities but, Indian defenders remained composed and set-up a well-structured defence that kept the German forward line from converting. A solid block from Surender Kumar at the very last minute saw the third quarter ending in a 1-1 stalemate.

The final quarter saw some nail-biting moments, with both the teams upping the ante but neither allowed a goal with the match ending in a 1-1 deadlock.

“This match was a good experience for our players. It was a tough match and the team worked hard. Both teams created opportunities and I believe we will learn a lot from this game,” said India’s chief coach Graham Reid.

India will next play Great Britain on Saturday.



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Germany Women’s Hockey Team Beat India 2-0 for Third Consecutive Win

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The Indian women’s hockey team once again impressed in defence but couldn’t stop Germany from winning their third consecutive game in the four-match series here in Dusseldorf on Tuesday. World no. 3 Germany won by a 2-0 margin through goals from Sonja Zimmermann (26th) and Franzisca Hauke (42th). Encouraged by their robust defensive display in the second game of the series, the Indian side continued to frustrate the German attackers. The hosts were unable to create any early momentum and had a penalty corner saved in the first quarter. While Germany pushed forward to break the deadlock, the Indian backline stood firm yet again. Germany were awarded a PC early into the second quarter but still couldn’t find a way past India’s defence. The team managed to keep out three PCs in the previous game too.

Germany ended India’s resistance in the form of a goal from the third PC. This time, defender Zimmermann made no mistake as the world no. 3 side started the third quarter with a lead. Germany doubled their advantage shortly before the end of the third quarter with seasoned midfielder Hauke getting on the scoresheet. The German side held on to complete their third successive win.

The fourth match will be played on Thursday.



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Germany to Extend Coronavirus Lockdown Until March 28, While Easing Some Restrictions: Report

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Merkel is due to discuss lockdown and easing options with the 16 state heads on Wednesday.

  • Reuters
  • Last Updated:March 02, 2021, 18:21 IST
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BERLIN: Germany plans to extend its coronavirus lockdown until March 28 while easing some restrictions from next week, a draft document to be discussed by Chancellor Angela Merkel and federal state leaders showed on Tuesday.

Merkel is due to discuss lockdown and easing options with the 16 state heads on Wednesday, as coronavirus cases in Germany hit more than 2.4 million and public frustration mounts over restrictive measures and a sluggish vaccine roll-out.

The draft document, seen by Reuters, states that starting from March 8 a maximum of five people from two households, excluding children younger than 14, will be allowed to meet, up from a maximum of two people under current rules.

Flower and book stores, garden centres, tatoo and nail parlours as well as massage salons will also be allowed to reopen.

Merkel and state leaders will have to decide at which 7-day incidence rate per 100,000 residents measures could be either toughened or eased. The document cited 35 and 50 as two likely possibilities.

With Easter approaching, the draft agreement also appeals to Germans to avoid domestic and foreign travel, adding, however, that limited visits to relatives will be allowed over the festive days.

(Writing by Joseph Nasr)



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India Men’s Hockey Team Beat Germany 6-1 on Return to International Action

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Young Vivek Sagar Prasad scored a brace as the Indian men’s hockey team outclassed Germany 6-1 in its Europe tour opener to make an impressive return to international circuit following coronavirus-forced break.

Vivek (27th, 28th minutes), Nilakanta Sharma (13th), Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (41st), Akashdeep Singh (42nd) and Harmanpreet Singh (47th) were the goal scorers for India.

Hungry to perform, India played with an intent to win. They went on an attacking mode right from the start, putting pressure on the German line-up.

After creating potential opportunities in the striking circle, India earned a penalty corner in the 13th minute of the first quarter, which saw midfielder Nilakanta breaking the deadlock for the visitors.

However, in the next minute, forward Constantin Staib scored an equaliser for Germany. The second quarter started with the hosts putting pressure on India and earned themselves two back-to-back penalty corners in the initial minutes.

The Indian side made brilliant saves and created quick counter-attacks which led to midfielder Vivek scoring two back-to-back goals in the 27th and 28th minutes.

In the third quarter, the hosts started off on the front foot again and earned as many as six penalty corners. However, skipper PR Sreejesh stood firm in front of the goal to keep the Germans at bay.

Soon after a solid defensive display, Indian forwards Lalit and Akashdeep netted brilliant goals in the 41st and 42nd minute, respectively to put the world no. 4 Indian team in the driver’s seat.

Another glorious opportunity came for the Indian men at the 47th minute in the form of a penalty corner, and Harmanpreet extended India’s lead with a fierce flick. Playing under pressure, the hosts did try hard to make a comeback and even pulled out their goalkeeper to put an extra attacker in the team but a great overall performance from the Indian side ensured a 6-1 victory.

“It was absolutely thrilling to play after so long and coach’s advice to us was ‘go and enjoy the game’ and so we did. This was the same German side who are playing the FIH Hockey Pro League matches, and I feel we did well against this squad, considering we were playing after a year.

“We had worked a lot on individual skills and had planned tactical play against Germany back in the camp. We just had to execute it today and it was really exciting to be back with a win,” said Sreejesh.

After a day’s break, India will again take on Germany on March 2.



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Indian Women’s Hockey Team Lose 0-1 to Germany in 2nd Game

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The Indian women’s hockey team lost 0-1 to Germany in their second tour game, putting a much-improved show from their 0-5 thrashing in the opening match. Amelie Wortmann (24th minute) scored the only goal of the game as the Germans held on to their slender advantage to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series.

Midfielder Wortmann put her side in the lead six minutes before the end of the second quarter. The Indian side responded quickly, earning a penalty corner just three minutes after going behind, but were unable to breach past the German backline.

The Germans had the chance to double their lead early into the third quarter after being awarded another penalty corner, but yet again, the resolute Indian defence kept them at bay.

The Indian side continued to frustrate the Germans, this time in the fourth quarter, as they kept out a penalty corner for the third time in the match. But Germany protected their lead to earn a hard-fought win.

The Indians will take on Germany in their third match on March 2.



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