BONN/REGION. The seven-day incidence rate in Bonn is continuing to rise. On Saturday, it was reported at 1,649.2 (previous day: 1,601.4). The number of new infections according to the NRW State Centre for Health is 1,135, bringing the total number of reported Covid-19 cases to 38,014. A new death in connection with Covid-19 was also registered. This means that the total number of deaths in Bonn has risen to 316. Currently, around 9,700 people in Bonn are infected with the virus, and around 28,000 people are considered to have recovered. 

 In the Rhine-Sieg district, the incidence rate fell by 19.3 and was reported at 867.1 on Saturday. The State Centre for Health registered 1,227 new infections. This has brought the number of reported Corona cases to 58,038 in the district. Two people died in connection with Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths to 646. Currently, around 16,000 people are considered to be infected with the virus in the Rhine-Sieg district. 

 (Original text: wrm)  

 BONN. The NRW Data Protection Office is scrutinising the use of video cameras by the Bonn police due to a complaint. The police defend the use of mobile video equipment at hotspots in Bonn such as along the banks of the Rhine and Poppelsdorfer Allee as a proportionate measure. When using the two mobile cameras, which they developed themselves, the police department strictly adheres to policing laws and administrative regulations.  

 The Ramersdorf department has a special operations control centre for the two cameras. Before operation, sensitive areas such as apartments and outdoor restaurants are pixelated in the camera’s field of view - in the presence of the police data protection officer, explains Andreas Koch, Senior Police Director in Bonn. If any demonstrations were to take place at the site, the cameras would be switched off.

The recordings are stored for a fortnight and then deleted unless they are required as evidence in criminal proceedings. In one case, video surveillance led to the immediate arrest of the suspect, when a man had attacked another on the Poststrasse. Officers were on the scene before the first emergency call came in, Koch said.

He points out that the ongoing review by the state Data Protection Office is not an unusual occurrence. In any case, the measure has been well received by many Bonn residents, he said, as shown by the numerous positive letters received. The video surveillance is proving successful. The police have been able to “significantly pacify” the situation on the banks of the Rhine in Bonn. “The advantage of mobile and thus flexible video surveillance is also that crime phenomena can be countered on an ad-hoc basis and relatively quickly,” says Koch. This year, the Hofgarten, the Brassertufer and the Poppelsdorfer Allee will be particularly in focus. At the Hofgarten, the number of crimes doubled in 2021. The police are also keeping a watchful eye on Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz. 

 (Original text: Andreas Baumann)  

 RHINE-SIEG DISTRICT. Director of the district Youth Welfare Office Beate Schlich made the announcement in a press conference on Wednesday, and on Friday it became official: due to overloaded laboratories, the Rhein-Sieg district is changing the Corona testing procedure for the children’s nurseries in its area of responsibility.  

 Accordingly, nursery children will continue to be tested in a PCR pool test. If there is a positive result, individual PCR tests will follow for the children in the pool. If, on the following day, the test result has not yet been received, parents can, according to the district, carry out a self-test on their child or go to a test centre for a rapid test. The child may return to the nursery if the result is negative. Here the parents must present the result from the test centre, or a written confirmation of the self-test taken at home. 

 “We have to make nursery operation as safe as possible for everyone involved, but also ensure that day-care is maintained,” says Thomas Wagner, head of Rhine-Sieg district youth department. The new procedure ensures that uninfected children have to stay at home for a maximum of 24 hours, he says. “Children and parents, but also the nursery staff, cannot be expected to stay closed for days due to the current situation,” said Wagner.  

 The Rhine-Sieg Youth Welfare Office is responsible for the nurseries in the boroughs of Alfter, Eitorf, Much, Neunkirchen-Seelscheid, Ruppichteroth, Swisttal, Wachtberg and Windeck. Similar regulations have already been established for nurseries in Bornheim and Sankt Augustin (as reported by the GA). 

 (Original text: Christoph Meurer)  

 BONN. The price of residential apartments in Bonn rose sharply in 2021. According to a report by the real estate website Immowelt, flats were 18 per cent more expensive last year compared to the year before. In Bonn the median price per square metre in 2021 was 3,520 euros, compared to 2,990 euros in 2020. Prices are also going up in other major German cities. 

 According to Bonn estate agents, demand remains high. It is their clients who are suffering the most from the tight housing market. “We have many clients who have been looking for over two years,” explains Wieland Münch, managing director of the Bonn-based estate agent Limbach Immobilien. According to Münch, the price increase in Bonn could be even higher than calculated by Immowelt. 

The high demand in Bonn can no longer be compensated by building new flats, he explains. “There are hardly any areas left in the city for building.” In addition, not only have the costs for tradesmen and materials risen, but the requirements imposed by the authorities are also becoming more and more complicated. “All this is reflected in the end price,” says Münch.

According to the estate agent, an average of between 1,500 and 1,800 flats are sold in Bonn each year. Münch has this many customers registered as interested parties in his system. So he could serve the Bonn market with his clients alone. However, in addition, there are other estate agents in Bonn who also have many clients. “In Bonn it’s often just a matter of luck that clients find a suitable flat,” he says. 

(Original text: snm)  

(Translations: Caroline Kusch)