Germany fights virus uptick with mandatory testing for travellers

[webfact]

Germany fights virus uptick with mandatory testing for travellers

By Thomas Escritt

 

German Health Minister Jens Spahn holds a news conference on the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Germany, in Berlin, Germany August 6, 2020. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany announced mandatory tests for travellers returning from high-risk regions after new coronavirus cases breached the 1,000-a-day threshold for the first time since May, fuelling fears of a return to an economically disruptive lockdown.

 

Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday free compulsory testing would be in force from Saturday after the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's public health agency, reported 1,045 new cases in a single day.

 

Part of the increase was due to more tests taking place, he said, but the impact of holidaymakers returning to Germany and of flagging social distancing discipline was also significant.

 

Germany classifies almost all the world outside the European Union as high risk, as well as some regions within the bloc, including Aragon, Catalonia and Navarre in Spain, and Belgium's Antwerp province.

 

The compulsory tests mean travellers will not have to quarantine for two weeks. Anyone who refuses to take the test could face a fine of up to 25,000 euros ($29,648).

 

"If anybody thinks they can be stubborn at the airport and deal with the fine when it comes later, no. They're going into quarantine for two weeks," Spahn added.

 

Germany's approach is similar to that in neighbouring France, which requires travellers from some countries to take COVID-19 tests at airports and ports. Some other European countries require travellers to take a test in the days before their trip.

 

With Europe's largest economy only starting to recover from the near-total lockdown that was imposed in March, any sign of renewed restrictions will dismay investors.

 

Spahn said he thought a renewed closure of shops could probably still be avoided.

 

The head of the German doctors' union said earlier this week that Germany was already contending with a second wave of the coronavirus and risked squandering its early success by flouting social distancing rules.

 

Officials believe it will be harder to control the spread of new infections from autumn, making it all the more important to keep numbers down as the summer draws to a close.

 

The lockdown pushed the number of daily new cases down to as low as 159 in mid-July, but numbers have been rising since, fuelled by local outbreaks, including one centred on a slaughterhouse that had the entire city of Guetersloh placed under restrictions.

 

A poll for Der Spiegel magazine showed four fifths of Germans expect further lockdowns to be imposed to control the pandemic, with half expecting future measures to be stricter than in the last one.

 

($1 = 0.8432 euros)

 

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Michelle Martin and David Holmes)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-07

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[rupert the bear]

testing on arrival and the govt pays for it so people can travel.got it thailand ,listen and learn.millions of jobs your losing and also firms going bust,tourism construction real estate manufacturing.so get around it. a test on arrival.we all know u dont do thinking ahead or planning,anticipation.but it works and you will save the country.otherwise the peasants will become revolting!then you wont be so important anymore so theres really so much at stake.just have to pay up now for the test,no racist rip offs !can it be done,aghhh dont hold ur breath but this is the way out.quick jump on the train before it leaves the station.

[pacovl46]

That’s what you get for giving in to the idiots who wanted to ease the lockdown! We were down to 200 infections/day and after they eased up it went straight back up to over a thousand. What pisses me off the most is that the idiots demonstrating in the streets without masks and the recommended safety distance to each other don’t get that they’re one of the major reasons why this keeps dragging on and on and on! 

Edited August 7, 2020 by pacovl46

[Bender Rodriguez]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Germany classifies almost all the world outside the European Union as high risk, as well as some regions within the bloc, including Aragon, Catalonia and Navarre in Spain, and Belgium's Antwerp province.

case of Antwerp are ARABS not wanting to wear masks, famous for SPITTING all over, no respect for anything

 

they claim it is against their religion

[from the home of CC]

8 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

That’s what you get for giving in to the idiots who wanted to ease the lockdown! We were down to 200 infections/day and after they eased up it went straight back up to over a thousand. What pisses me off the most is that the idiots demonstrating in the streets without masks and the recommended safety distance to each other don’t get that they’re one of the major reasons why this keeps dragging on and on and on! 

drinking in bars accounts for more infections than protests imo for one is inside vs outside..

[3NUMBAS]

alls not well in spain too

 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/spain-wrestles-14-covid-19-170956771.html

 

Spain wrestles with 14 new Covid-19 outbreaks with majority in Malaga

Abbianca Makoni

,

Evening Standard•6 August 2020

[pacovl46]

1 hour ago, from the home of CC said:

drinking in bars accounts for more infections than protests imo for one is inside vs outside..

Yes, but inside you can space the tables far enough and limit the number of guests or restrict visits to the outside area only, if an outdoor space is available as opposed to a demonstration where you have thousands of people right next to each other like last weekend in Berlin. 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/7/2020 at 9:26 AM, webfact said:

Germany announced mandatory tests for travellers returning from high-risk regions after new coronavirus cases breached the 1,000-a-day threshold for the first time since May, fuelling fears of a return to an economically disruptive lockdown.

Am I being a bit slow, but shouldn't that have been done months ago? If it hasn't been done it's no wonder there is an outbreak.

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

case of Antwerp are ARABS not wanting to wear masks, famous for SPITTING all over, no respect for anything

 

they claim it is against their religion

Absolute rubbish. Arabs have no problem making women wear a mask.

Edited August 8, 2020 by thaibeachlovers

[Yinn]

23 hours ago, rupert the bear said:

testing on arrival and the govt pays for it so people can travel.got it thailand ,listen and learn.millions of jobs your losing and also firms going bust,tourism construction real estate manufacturing.so get around it. a test on arrival.we all know u dont do thinking ahead or planning,anticipation.but it works and you will save the country.otherwise the peasants will become revolting!then you wont be so important anymore so theres really so much at stake.just have to pay up now for the test,no racist rip offs !can it be done,aghhh dont hold ur breath but this is the way out.quick jump on the train before it leaves the station.

OP about increase in Germany covid.

= you thai bashing post. 

 

Thailand ranked highest in a global survey for its effective handling of Covid-19 and recovery from the crisis. The Global Covid-19 Index (GCI), published yesterday (July 28), gave Thailand an index score of 82.06, putting it on top of the global chart as an example of best practices in tackling the dreaded virus

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30392083

 

Germany 15th worse in the world covid. 

10,000 die already.

Thailand control covid 5 weeks. 

 

When Germany control same, be welcome to Thailand. Not now. 

Not want covid return same Germany. 

 

 

Thailnd not want to copy Germany. 

 

 

[JustAnotherHun]

On 8/7/2020 at 3:16 AM, pacovl46 said:

That’s what you get for giving in to the idiots who wanted to ease the lockdown! We were down to 200 infections/day and after they eased up it went straight back up to over a thousand. What pisses me off the most is that the idiots demonstrating in the streets without masks and the recommended safety distance to each other don’t get that they’re one of the major reasons why this keeps dragging on and on and on! 

Yeah, right, the rising numbers are coming from the Corona demonstrators. They poison our whole society, those "idiots". Not so the thousands of BLM-demonstrators just two weeks before where only a part of the bleeding hearts wore masks and no one practized social distancing. Or the Antifa-terrorists who deserted again parts of the city of Berlin just a few hours after the bad bad Corona demonstrators were gone.

 

And by the way: In Germany more people were dying because of the lockdown than from Corona itself. Hospitals sent their staff into short work, more than 20.000 urgent cancer operations were seized, patients were left untreated.

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by JustAnotherHun

[welovesundaysatspace]

1 hour ago, JustAnotherHun said:

Yeah, right, the rising numbers are coming from the Corona demonstrators. They poison our whole society, those "idiots". Not so the thousands of BLM-demonstrators just two weeks before where only a part of the bleeding hearts wore masks and no one practized social distancing.

Where was he saying that? 

 

1 hour ago, JustAnotherHun said:

And by the way: In Germany more people were dying because of the lockdown than from Corona itself. Hospitals sent their staff into short work, more than 20.000 urgent cancer operations were seized, patients were left untreated.

I have several friends in Germany who are doctors and nurses. What you write is absolute nonsense. These people are working plenty of overtime even without Covid, and this pandemic just made it worse. And patients didn’t die because certain treatments were postponed. Only uncritical treatments were postponed. 

[pacovl46]

6 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

Yeah, right, the rising numbers are coming from the Corona demonstrators. They poison our whole society, those "idiots". Not so the thousands of BLM-demonstrators just two weeks before where only a part of the bleeding hearts wore masks and no one practized social distancing. Or the Antifa-terrorists who deserted again parts of the city of Berlin just a few hours after the bad bad Corona demonstrators were gone.

 

And by the way: In Germany more people were dying because of the lockdown than from Corona itself. Hospitals sent their staff into short work, more than 20.000 urgent cancer operations were seized, patients were left untreated.

 

When did I say that BLM did not contribute to rising numbers?! 
 

Do you have to any prove about the cancer surgeries that weren’t carried out because of corona or did you get that from conspiracy websites? Obviously if they had had they’re hands full with corona cases then it’s pretty obvious that the nurses couldn’t have gone on Kurzarbeit! And if they were able to go on Kurzarbeit then there were no urgent cancer surgeries that needed to be carried out otherwise they wouldn’t have gone on Kurzarbeit! Either way it sounds very much like bs to me! 

[JustAnotherHun]

22 hours ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

I have several friends in Germany who are doctors and nurses. What you write is absolute nonsense. These people are working plenty of overtime even without Covid, and this pandemic just made it worse. And patients didn’t die because certain treatments were postponed. Only uncritical treatments were postponed. 

You have "some friends who are doctors in Germany"? Great! I AM in Germany and in the med business. Our staff works since the beginning of the outbreak in the most dangerous places such as old age and nursing homes.

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Get some facts.

[JustAnotherHun]

17 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

Do you have to any prove about the cancer surgeries that weren’t carried out because of corona or did you get that from conspiracy websites?

Do you understand written German?

 

I hope it's not against the rules to post a link to a german news website:

https://www.zeit.de/wissen/gesundheit/2020-07/deutsche-krebshilfe-corona-pandemie-krebsoperationen-verschoben

 

Conspiracy website?  "Die Zeit" is one of the most respected printmedia in Germany.

Sounds like BS to you? Never mind. Reality is not for everyone.

 

[Bkk Brian]

On 8/8/2020 at 1:28 PM, JustAnotherHun said:

 

And by the way: In Germany more people were dying because of the lockdown than from Corona itself. Hospitals sent their staff into short work, more than 20.000 urgent cancer operations were seized, patients were left untreated.

 

Yet Germany excess deaths are below average and have been noticeable as flat lining throughout the pandemic compared to other countries, some operations may have been cancelled but not urgent ones.

[pacovl46]

5 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

Do you understand written German?

 

I hope it's not against the rules to post a link to a german news website:

https://www.zeit.de/wissen/gesundheit/2020-07/deutsche-krebshilfe-corona-pandemie-krebsoperationen-verschoben

 

Conspiracy website?  "Die Zeit" is one of the most respected printmedia in Germany.

Sounds like BS to you? Never mind. Reality is not for everyone.

 

I am German. I never said Die Zeit is a conspiracy website, I was asking if you got that information from a conspiracy website. Big difference! 
 

I’ve read the article and it doesn’t say anything about nurses going on Kurzarbeit and that’s why the cancer surgeries weren’t carried out. 
 

You need to understand one fundamental thing, this virus is new, no one knows exactly what it really does in terms of long term damage, therefore it was paramount to keep the number of infections as low as possible, and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few in that type of situation, therefore they put the surgeries on hold. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Yes, it’s sad and maybe it wasn’t necessary, but at the time that decision was made they couldn’t have known.

 

The bottom line is, if the governments hadn’t done anything to prevent the spread, people wouldn’t have been happy and with the preventive measurements that have been taken, people aren’t happy either. Ergo, you can’t please everyone. They had to do something and they did what they thought is best for the general public and that’s that! 

Edited August 9, 2020 by pacovl46

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/8/2020 at 7:52 PM, welovesundaysatspace said:

Where was he saying that? 

 

I have several friends in Germany who are doctors and nurses. What you write is absolute nonsense. These people are working plenty of overtime even without Covid, and this pandemic just made it worse. And patients didn’t die because certain treatments were postponed. Only uncritical treatments were postponed. 

?????????????????????????????/

The longer cancer is left untreated the more likely to kill one.

[Scott]

Inflammatory post removed.  Keep it civil or face a suspension.

 

[Chomper Higgot]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

?????????????????????????????/

The longer cancer is left untreated the more likely to kill one.

Which is one of the best arguments for the Covid-19 lockdown, reduce the rate of infection, thereby reduce demand on medical services and thereby leave capacity to deal with other health issues.

[Tounge Thaied]

There's no emergency... stop all testing, problem solved. 

[Phoenix Rising]

8 minutes ago, Tounge Thaied said:

There's no emergency... stop all testing, problem solved. 

Yes, burying your head in the sand has always been a great strategy.

[Tounge Thaied]

5 minutes ago, Phoenix Rising said:

Yes, burying your head in the sand has always been a great strategy.

There's no emergency. Never has been. 

[Phoenix Rising]

17 minutes ago, Tounge Thaied said:

There's no emergency. Never has been. 

Yep, tell that to the doctors and nurses who manned the emergency rooms in hotspots when the first peak appeared. Word of warning though, you'll probably need a visit to the ER yourself if you do.