GA English on Sunday News in Brief from Bonn and the region
Bonn/Region · Updates from the GA Corona live blog, two new COVID test centres set up in Beuel, summary of supermarket opening times on Christmas Eve in Bonn, and local IT company Conet is moving into the new high-rise building at Neuer Kanzlerplatz - here is our news in brief on Sunday.
Robert Koch Institute registers 29,348 new COVID infections in Germany
The nationwide seven-day incidence rate has gone down compared to the previous day. The Robert Koch Institute announced the rate on Sunday morning as 315.4. The previous day it had been 321.8. Health authorities in Germany reported 29,348 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in one day. A week ago, there were 32,646 infections. The number of reported infections has been decreasing for almost three weeks. However, experts fear a reversal of this trend soon due to the more contagious virus variant Omicron. Across Germany, 180 deaths were recorded within 24 hours, according to the new data. A week ago, there were 132 deaths. The RKI reports more than 6,793,536 million infections with Sars-CoV-2 in Germany since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be much higher, as many infections are undetected.
German government classifies Great Britain as a virus variant area
In order to prevent a rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the German government has classified the UK as a virus variant area from Monday, the Robert Koch Institute announced on Saturday evening. This will significantly tighten the restrictions on travellers from the UK to Germany.
(Original text: dpa/epd)
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Two new COVID test centres
BEUEL. The company Proki Kinderevents GmbH set up two new COVID test centres in Beuel on Friday, specialising in tests for families and children. The centres are in Holzlar, at Christ-König-Straße 15, and in Pützchen, at Karmeliterstraße 54. The test centres are open Monday to Sunday, from 1 pm to 4 pm. These opening hours may be extended, depending on the demand. Further information can be found (in German) at proki-events.de/corona-testzentrum-bonn.html. Appointments can be booked at corona.avaris-webdesign.de.
(Original text: let)
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Supermarket opening times on Christmas Eve
BONN. Christmas Eve falls on a Friday this year, which means that shoppers in Bonn can still make a quick supermarket trip on 24 December if they are short of any items for the festivities. The next chance to go food shopping will be the Monday after Christmas.
For the shops that are allowed to trade over Christmas, owners can decide on the opening times themselves. Many shops in the region close at 2 pm at the latest on Christmas Eve. Below is a summary of the supermarket opening hours in Bonn on 24 December:
- Rewe: On Christmas Eve the Rewe supermarkets will close at 2pm at the latest, said Rewe-spokesman Thomas Bonrath. Customers can check the Christmas Eve opening times for the Rewe stores in Bonn online.
- Penny: The Penny supermarkets, which are also part of the Rewe Group, are open from 7am to 2pm on Christmas Eve. The only exception is the store at Frankenbad which opens one hour later at 8 am.
- Edeka: Each individual Edeka store is allowed to decide its own opening times on Christmas Eve. Edeka Vogl has a store in Endenich and on the Hardtberg. Here customers can shop from 7 am to 2 pm on Christmas Eve - one hour earlier than usual in order to ease the crowds. On Lievelingsweg and Bornheimer Straße, as well as in Alfter and Bad Godesberg, Edeka Mohr stores will also be open from 7 am to 2 pm on 24 December. Edeka Kipping on Römerstraße opens one hour later at 8 am and closes at 2 pm. The store on Clemensstraße opens at 7:30 am and closes at 2 pm. Customers can shop at Edeka Lange on Mirecourtstraße in Beuel from 7.30am to 1pm. The Edeka Bachem on Sternenburgstraße in Poppelsdorf has not yet decided but will probably be open until 2 pm on Christmas Eve, according to the store. The Edeka in Dottendorf on Karl-Barth-Straße opens from 7 am until 2 pm.
- Aldi-Süd: Aldi shops in Bonn will be open until 2 p.m. on 24 December, according to the company's press office. The opening hours on Christmas Eve for each Aldi-Süd store in Bonn can also be found online.
- Kaufland: The Kaufland store on Oppelner Straße in Bonn-Tannenbusch is open from 7 am to 2 pm on Christmas Eve.
- Lidl: Almost all Lidl shops will be open from 7 am on 24 December, according to the Lidl Deutschland press office. Closing times are based on the NRW Opening Hours Act, which states that sales outlets must close by 2pm on Christmas Eve at the latest. The detailed opening hours will be displayed at the entrance to each store in the coming week. Lidl opening hours in Bonn on Christmas Eve will soon be available on the company’s website.
- Netto has not yet responded to a request for its Christmas Eve opening hours in Bonn.
(Original text: ga)
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Conet moves to the Neuer Kanzlerplatz
BONN. The Hennef IT company Conet is moving into the new high-rise building at Neuer Kanzlerplatz. This means that, in addition to Deutsche Bank and its subsidiary Postbank, Design Offices, the tax consultancy Juhn Partner and the catering company Food Affairs, another anchor tenant has been secured for the ensemble of three buildings near Reuterbrücke. The skyscraper has now reached its final height of 101.5 metres and is scheduled to be ready for occupation in autumn 2022.
Conet is pulling together around 700 staff at its new premises on the Kanzlerplatz. The company is leaving its offices on Rudolf-Diesel-Straße in Niederkassel and on Theodor-Heuss-Allee and Humperdinckstraße in Hennef. According to the developer Art-Invest Real Estate, which belongs to the Zech Group, Conet will be renting a space of around 7500 square metres on ten floors in the high-rise building. By relocating the company headquarters, Conet says it wants to improve its customer proximity to “numerous municipal clients in the federal city”, among other things. With an annual turnover of almost 150 million euros in 2020, Conet is one of the largest IT companies in Germany with almost 1000 employees.
The prestigious address, home to one of Bonn's tallest buildings, has attracted many big tenants since construction began in 2019. Deutsche Bank (Postbank) will occupy rental space in Haus 1, the high-rise building, and Haus 2, as well as a further 38,000 square metres or so in Haus 3. Design Offices is located in Haus 1 with around 7700 square metres. In addition to Conet, another anchor tenant is the tax consultancy Juhn Partner, who will occupy 750 square metres on the 24th floor of the high-rise building. The catering company Food Affairs will move into Haus 3.
The total gross floor space is around 66,000 square metres - which means that the site is almost completely let before it is even finished. In the high-rise building, only 750 square metres remain available on two of the floors.
The Bonn Centre, which was previously located on the site, was demolished in 2017. Despite the Corona pandemic and bottlenecks with the supply of building materials, Art-Invest says it has been able to keep to the schedule so far. The financial company Union Investment became the owner of the Neuer Kanzlerplatz in 2019. A spokeswoman for Art-Invest explained that Art-Invest is responsible for the project until completion.
(Original text: Nicholas Ottersbach)
(Translations: Caroline Kusch)
