Karl Lauterbach expects a very high number of cases in autumn. According to the Minister of Health, this could also lead to an overload of the critical infrastructure.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach fears that the corona situation will worsen significantly in autumn. “It will be a difficult autumn, we have to be prepared,” said the SPD politician in the evening on the ARD “Tagesthemen”. He believes that “we will have great difficulties with the BA.5 variant that is now spreading here”. He expects a very high number of cases, which could also lead to an overload of the critical infrastructure. “That is my fear,” said the minister.
A committee of experts had previously presented a long-awaited report on the effectiveness of previous corona protection measures. Accordingly, protective measures such as wearing a mask can continue to be helpful against the corona virus. However, behind many other well-known conditions, the expert committee puts big question marks, due to a lack of sufficient data, no reliable assessments are possible.
Lauterbach: An expert opinion is not the last word
Lauterbach admitted on the ARD that so far “the perfect data” had not been had. With a pandemic radar in hospitals and wastewater monitoring, he expects better data in September. The report is “not a Bible to quote from” and “not the last word,” emphasized the Minister of Health.
With Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP), he now wants to “very quickly come to regulations that will better protect citizens in autumn and winter,” said Lauterbach.
Lockdown excluded
“In the report, many measures were evaluated according to the motto “They help, but we don’t know how much they help,” said the minister in the evening on ZDF’s “heute journal”. International literature and other expert assessments would therefore now also be included in consultations on a new infection protection law. Lauterbach ruled out a lockdown like at the beginning of the pandemic: “We wouldn’t repeat that.”
