In North Rhine-Westphalia, access restrictions for adults who have not been vaccinated or have not recovered (2G rule) will apply in recreational and cultural areas from Wednesday onwards. In areas with a particularly high risk of infection - such as discos, clubs or carnival celebrations - even those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered must also present a current negative test (2G plus). Exceptions apply to minors and people without a vaccination recommendation or those who cannot be vaccinated. This was announced by State Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) on Tuesday at the presentation of the updated Corona Protection Ordinance in Düsseldorf.

In view of the dramatically worsening situation, the federal and state governments decided last week that unvaccinated persons would no longer be allowed to enter leisure events, restaurants, hotels or services that have to be performed on or close to the body if a certain threshold value was exceeded. NRW will take further protective measures as soon as this so-called hospitalisation rate exceeds six, Laumann explained. Here, too, the problems in the hospitals are getting worse.

The hospitalisation rate describes the number of Corona-related hospital admissions per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days. In NRW, it was 4.22 on Tuesday. The number of new Corona infections continued to rise significantly. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Tuesday, the seven-day incidence climbed to 249.0 per 100,000 inhabitants. However, it was still below the national average of almost 400.

According to the RKI, 52 people died in NRW within 24 hours in connection with Covid-19. This is a significant increase compared to the previous day when four deaths were reported.

The number of Covid patients in NRW hospitals rose by almost 200 to 2,415 by Tuesday. Almost 10.5 percent of intensive care beds in NRW were occupied by Covid-19 patients, according to the state government. 317 of the 546 patients with Covid-19 diseases in intensive care units had to be ventilated. 377 ICU beds with ventilation facilities were still vacant.

The seven-day incidence in Rhineland-Palatinate continues to rise from peak to peak: on Tuesday, the state investigation office determined 255.6 infections per 100,000 inhabitants within one week, after 249.8 the day before.

The hospitalisation incidence, which will in future be decisive for restrictions on public life, however, continued to fall, from 3.5 to 3.4 hospital admissions, also based on 100,000 inhabitants within seven days. In contrast, the proportion of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units increased from 6.54 to 7.39 percent. With a hospitalisation incidence above 3, the 2G rule will apply to recreational facilities and cultural events from Wednesday, i.e. admission only for recovered or vaccinated persons.

The health authorities registered 2,176 new Corona infections (as of 2.10 p.m.). Currently, 24,057 Rhineland-Palatinate residents are infected. The number of deaths of Covid-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic increased by 13 to 4,233.

The highest seven-day incidence of infection on Tuesday was in the city of Landau with 501.2, followed by the districts of Germersheim (476.7) and Südliche Weinstraße (453.1) and the city of Neustadt an der Weinstraße (410.8). The lowest seven-day incidence was in the city of Trier with 126.4. In the district of Ahrweiler, the incidence was 226.1, in the district of Neuwied 236.4.

North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister of Health, Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU), no longer rules out such a far-reaching step after having long been opposed to a general Corona vaccination requirement. "It is always the case that a debate continues," Laumann said in Düsseldorf on Tuesday. He also noticed a mood among vaccinated people who said that it could not be that one simply could not get the matter sorted because of a certain percentage of people.

The discussion is much broader than it was a few weeks ago, also with a view to the coming year. It must also be conducted, as Minister President Hendrik Wüst (CDU) has already correctly described. The question of ethics must play a role in the evaluation. The legal questions of what possibilities there are to make such a step legally binding must also be clarified. "I think we should allow ourselves this discussion - not an eternity - but a little bit," he stressed. That is important because of the highest possible acceptance, he said. Perhaps it is also the case that unvaccinated people revise their position because of the 2G rules in the leisure sector.

Laumann also pointed out that at the Minister Presidents' Conference last week, the federal states had asked the federal government to consider making vaccination compulsory for all staff in certain institutions, such as hospitals and nursing homes, who have contact with people who are particularly at risk. This could only be decided by the Bundestag.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, health minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) said that despite the increasing number of Corona cases, schools will remain open to the public for the time being. In the current situation, special measures are not necessary, Laumann said in Düsseldorf on Tuesday. He added that it was still unclear how the situation regarding new Corona infections would develop by Christmas.

Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) expects about one million citizen tests per day in North Rhine-Westphalia due to the 3G regulation, among others at the workplace. He assumes a good one million unvaccinated workers nationwide, Laumann said. How high the proportion of people in home offices is, however, is unclear. In recent times, the number of citizens' tests has been between 250,000 and 332,000 per day. (Original text: dpa/ga / Translation: Mareike Graepel)