Germany released, this Friday (26), a new record of more than 76,000 infections by Covid-19 in one day, as its air force prepared, for the first time during the pandemic, to transport critically ill patients to others parts of the country in order to alleviate struggling hospitals.
The day before, Germany had passed 100,000 Covid-19-related deaths amid alerts from hospitals, mainly in the south and east of the country, that its intensive care units (ICUs) are reaching full capacity.
Later on Friday, the German Air Force will transport critically ill Covid-19 patients from the southern city of Memmingen to Muenster, near Osnabrueck, in the north, to rescue clinics in the south, a security source told Reuters
It is the first time that the Air Force has used so-called “flying intensive care units”, planes with up to six ICU beds, to transfer patients with Covid-19 within Germany.
New variant lights alert
In addition, Berlin will also on Friday declare South Africa an area of occurrence of the virus after detecting a new variant of Covid-19, said a source in the German Ministry of Health.
The decision, which will take effect on Friday night, will mean that airlines will only be able to fly with Germans from South Africa to Germany, according to the source. Returning Germans, even those vaccinated, will have to spend 14 days in quarantine.
“This newly discovered variant worries us. That’s why we’re acting proactively and early on here,” said Health Minister Jens Spahn. “The last thing we need right now is the introduction of a new variant that causes even more problems.”
A variant, called B.1.1.529, has a “very unusual constellation” of mutations and may help evade the body’s immune response and make it more transmissible, say South African scientists.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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