There are currently twice as many corona patients in German hospitals as there were last summer. Although the proportion of intensive care patients among the corona patients is significantly lower, the absolute number of patients is “twice as high as at the same time last year,” said the CEO of the German Hospital Society (DKG), Gerald Gass, to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Sunday ). "The figures make it clear that autumn can again be an extreme test for the clinics."
"Nevertheless, the increasing number of patients who have tested positive for corona are not the main concern in the hospitals at the moment," Gass continued. Problems are caused above all by the high level of sick leave among employees and absences due to corona infections and quarantine. "In many hospitals, operations that can be planned have therefore had to be postponed and entire areas have to be temporarily signed off."
According to Gass, around 1,300 patients with Covid-19 are currently being treated in intensive care units and around 17,000 in normal wards in German hospitals. The absolute number of patients is twice as high as at the same time last year. Compared to last week, the numbers increased by 7.7 and 15.4 percent.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) meanwhile rejected calls for further corona protection measures. "In the future, there must no longer be blanket, blanket restrictions on freedom for everyone," he told the Funke newspapers.
Lindner defended the restrictions on the free corona tests: “We continue to use a lot of tax money to finance the citizen tests. However, a personal contribution is absolutely necessary so that the tax money is used sensibly.” With the free tests “many people seem to have earned a golden nose”.
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, had previously appealed to politicians that the Infection Protection Act should again enable far-reaching measures to protect against corona.
