Deutsche Welle (English edition)
Coronavirus digest: Germany ICU capacity at 'critical' level
An intensive care doctor has warned that rising infections have left only five to 10% of intensive care beds available in parts of Germany. Follow DW for the latest.
Germany is at risk of a shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds if the coronavirus caseload continues to rise, according to Uwe Janssens, an intensive care doctor and a member of the German Association of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI).
In terms of ICU capacity, Janssens told DW that the situation was "quite critical" in some hospitals across the country.
"We have areas where the ICU capacity just has left 5 to 10% open beds. That's not enough to cover the broad range of severely ill patients," he said.
Currently, hospitals were still able to help people, Jansens said. But if infections continued to rise, "it won't work anymore." He also raised concerns about Germany's elderly who have particularly high infection and mortality rates: "Even when they come on the intensive care units over the age of 70 or 80, the mortality in intensive care units is above 80%."
Janssens said medical profes
sionals in ICUs across Germany were under intense pressure.
"The burden is very high, the pressure is very high. The psychological and physical stress for the health care workers is immense."
Global
The World Health Organization (WHO) has appealed to people to carefully think about their Christmas plans and New Year's celebrations.
"The festive season is a time to relax and celebrate but... celebration can very quickly turn to
sadness if we fail to take the right precautions," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.
"Please consider your plans carefully. If you live in an area with high transmission, please take every precaution to keep yourselves and others safe... That could be the best gift you could give, the gift of health," Tedros said, warning that the global death rate from COVID-19 had accelerated by 60% in the past six weeks.
Europe
France will allow ski resorts to reopen on January 7 if the COVID-19 situation allows.
"January 7 is a possibility, as long as conditions allow this," French junior foreign affairs minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said on France's BFM television channel.
Spain is also set to open several ski stations from next week. The privately owned Baqueira Beret in the Pyrenees announced it would open on Monday, though it would limit the number of skiers to maintain social distancing rules. Ski workers in the Aragon region are planning a protest on Saturday to urge their regional government to reopen slopes to save their jobs.
German carmaker Volkswagen intends to close one of its plants due to coronavirus infections among staff members.
"The measure takes effect from the night shift Monday to Tuesday," a Volkswagen spokesman said of the plant in the northern city of Braunschweig (sometimes called Brunswick in English). The duration of the shutdown has not been disclosed. Thousands of people are expected to be affected.
Americas
The US Senate has unanimously approved a one-week extension of federal funding to avoid a government shutdown and to allow more time for separate negotiations on COVID-19 relief. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the extension into law. Congress now will focus on passing a $1.4 trillion (roughly €1.16 trillion) bill to continue federal operations until September 2021.