88 people from Bonn and the region who have Covid-19 are being treated in Bonn hospitals as of Thursday. The number of Covid patients in the hospitals has increased compared to Thursday last week. At that time, the city of Bonn reported 70 patients. The number of patients in regular hospital units has increased - from 53 to 69. 19 people are currently in intensive care (previous week: 17), 11 of them are on ventilators (previous week: 11).

In the Rhein-Sieg district, the incidence is 538.7. 662 new infections have been reported there since Thursday. This means that 18,500 people are considered infected there.

For the second time in a row, the German government is removing numerous African countries from the list of Covid-19 high-risk areas. This Sunday at midnight, 33 African countries will be removed from the risk list, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced Friday. Already a week ago, 13 African countries had been taken off the list. In total, there are 54 recognized states on the African continent. Africa was the last continent to be hit by the Coronavirus pandemic - and could now be the first to emerge. Newly classified as high-risk areas are Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Palestinian Territories.

Also removed from the risk list, in addition to Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia, are Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Comoros, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Togo, Chad, and the Central African Republic.

The city of Bonn moves forward with its vaccination campaign, announcing more locations and times in the coming days. As the city announced, for the most part, appointments are not required.

At Haus Vielinbusch, Oppelner Strasse 130, in Tannenbusch, vaccinations will be offered on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. for adults as well as for children five years and older.

A special vaccination campaign will take place on Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Contra-Kreis-Theater, Am Hof 3-5, in Bonn's city center. However, only booster vaccinations (for ages 12 and up) will be administered there.

On Saturday, vaccinations will be given in Dransdorf, Lenaustrasse 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (12 years and older). Vaccinations will also be offered for children between five and eleven years old. This offer is repeated every fourteen days, according to the city.

On Sunday, a vaccination event for everyone aged twelve and older will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Rheingold Youth Center, Meckenheimer Str. 2, in Mehlem. Here, too, children from the age of five can be vaccinated.

Vaccinations are always held on Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Hardtberg City Hall, Villemombler Strasse 1, in Duisdorf.

The vaccination center in Poppelsdorf, Clemens-August-Strasse 32, also administers  vaccinations to children aged five to eleven every Monday and Friday from 2 to 7 pm.

Starting Monday, vaccinations will be administered at the Stadthalle Bad Godesberg on Mondays through Fridays without an appointment between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Child immunizations will be held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with an appointment. Child immunization appointments can be booked at www.ciz-bonn.de, according to the announcement.

The next appointments at the immunization center at Harmonie, Frongasse 28-30, in Endenich are: Saturday, Feb. 5 and 12, from noon to 4 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 6 and 13, from 2 to 8 p.m. On Saturdays, children from the age of five will also be there. To book appointments, please see: www.testzentrum-bonn.com.

In the debate about easing Covid restrictions, March 19 is a pivotal date: politicians from the ruling parties believe it is possible that measures could be completely eliminated then. "In the next few weeks, we will carefully look at whether an extension of the Corona protection measures beyond March 19 is necessary at all," said the parliamentary director of the SPD parliamentary group, Johannes Fechner, to the German newspaper "Welt" on Friday.

"It is correct that the legal basis for the current measures will expire on March 19, unless the coalition with its majority actively decides otherwise," the first parliamentary director of the FDP parliamentary group, Johannes Vogel, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. How it continues after that date, the parliament will have to make a responsible decision, he added.

March 19 is explicitly in the Infection Protection Act as the end date for regulations including mandatory masks, social distancing, contact bans, hygiene protocol,  proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative test to attend events or go to restaurants. The Bundestag could extend the validity once for three months. The question now is whether this will happen.