In Bonn, the incidence value fell again on Monday. As the city announced on its website, the seven-day incidence is 118.6. The previous day, the value was 119.2. In the last seven days, 392 people have been newly infected with the coronavirus. Thus, 592 people are currently considered infected in the federal city. No new infections were reported in the Rhein-Sieg district on Monday, according to the North Rhine-Westphalia State Health Center. According to the report, the seven-day incidence drops to 46.6 in the district.

The U.S. plans to soon lift travel restrictions from the European Union and Britain for vaccinated people, according to media reports. The easing is expected to be announced on Monday, the Financial Times, Politico website and CNN broadcaster reported. According to the newspaper and CNN, the move is expected to take effect in November.

The far-reaching entry ban had been imposed at the beginning of the Corona pandemic in early 2020 by then-U.S. President Donald Trump and has so far been maintained by his successor Joe Biden. The travel industry, among others, has long called for a relaxation, at least for travellers vaccinated against the Corona virus.

There was initially no confirmation of the reports in Washington, Brussels or London. Politico referred to EU diplomats, the Financial Times and CNN to unspecified informed persons.

The previous travel restrictions state that only U.S. citizens and green card holders and their family members can enter the U.S. if they have been in the EU or the U.K. in the past 14 days. All others need special permission.

The EU had already called on member states in the summer to gradually lift restrictions on travellers from the U.S. and several other countries. Germany had responded by allowing entries again from the U.S., among others, "for all permissible purposes of stay, including tourism." However, the U.S. government maintained restrictions in July, citing the more contagious Delta variant.

Corona-infected people in North Rhine-Westphalia who resist a prescribed quarantine can be forcibly isolated at the Bethanien Hospital in Solingen. The facility has already been available for this purpose since May 2020, as the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Health confirmed in Düsseldorf on Monday in response to a query from Deutsche Presse-Agentur. In addition, contact persons suspected of being infected who do not comply with their quarantine requirements are to be accommodated by the municipalities in suitable, if necessary also locked facilities, according to the Infection Protection Act.

According to a report in the Neue Westfälische newspaper (Monday), Bethanien Hospital has so far housed 41 quarantine refusers in the clinic. According to the report, rooms with bathrooms are available for them in the locked part of the Corona ward, which is monitored around the clock.

Federal Health Minister Spahn has spoken out in favour of uniform access rules for events - including a stronger distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated. "We should come to a common line here," he told the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe. According to him, it would therefore be ideal if the federal states agreed on the 2G model as an option. "The organisers could then decide for themselves nationwide whether to let in only vaccinated and recovered people in exchange for being exempted from other protective requirements."

For now, the federal government rejected calls for a fixed date for an end to all Corona requirements. Spahn said some states had introduced a 2G rule for organisers as an option and supplement to the generally agreed-upon nationwide 3G model - that is, access to certain indoor areas only for those vaccinated, recovered and tested. In principle, he said, this is the right thing to do. "But it is once again very confusing for citizens that every federal state is going its own way," Spahn said. There are currently 16 different rules for concerts or events." Meanwhile, the FDP again urged the Bundestag to continue applying the 3G rule.

(Original text: ga/dpa; Translation: Mareike Graepel)