GERMAN ICU DOCTORS URGE NEW COVID-19 SHUTDOWN AMID THIRD WAVE FEARS

Mon 15 March 2021:

Intensive care doctors in Germany warned Monday that the country would need to make an “immediate return” to partial lockdown if it is to avoid stumbling into a dangerous third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

“From the data we currently have and with the spread of the British mutation, we would argue strongly to return immediately into a lockdown to avoid a strong third wave,” Christian Karagiannidis, director of Germany’s intensive care register, told broadcaster RBB.

“We won’t gain much from staying open for the next one or two weeks, because that will quickly bring us to a high level and make it twice as hard to push the numbers down again,” said Karagiannidis, who works for the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), which tracks intensive care capacities in German hospitals.

Germany has seen a rise in cases since it began a gradual easing of coronavirus measures in late February, allowing schools, hairdressers and other businesses to partially reopen.

Latest DIVI figures show that Germany currently has almost 2,800 people in intensive care, but Karagiannidis warned that the figure could rise to “5,000 or 6,000” if state governments do not respond to rising case numbers with stricter measures.

“It’s clear that the intensive care numbers will rise quickly if we give the virus an opportunity,” he said, urging the government to press on with vaccinating over-50s and over-60s.