As of Tuesday night, the officially confirmed number of Corona infectionsin Berlin lies at 383.
The latest numbers of officially confirmed Corona infections show a 15 percent increase compared to last night's tally. There are now 383 registered cases in the city – 210 men, 172 women and one person whose gender is not known. Of those, 21 are isolated in hospitals, four receiving intensive emergency care, while the other infected remain quarantined in their homes. The Senate's health department is trying to find, notify and isolate people who've been in contact with the infected.
Shutdown of public life
Last night, Mayor Müller addressed the public, promising the city would try everything to slow down the spread of the virus so that medical infrastructure can keep up with the number of seriously ill patients. He said it was necessary to “shut down public life as far as possible” and that “our measures can only work if we abstain from social contact as much as possible”.
Following national guidelines given out on Monday, the majority of Berlin shops (excluding supermarkets, other food stores, pharmacies and drugstores) are set to close down tomorrow, Wednesday, March 18. This latest measure announced by Health Senator Dilek Kalayci (SPD) comes after the officially mandated closure of bars, clubs, theatres, sports facilities and brothels in Berlin and Germany at large. Gatherings in churches, mosques and synagogues are also prohibited. The government suggested closing off playgrounds, but the city is one of the few German Länder keeping them open for the time being – while advising parents to ensure a 1.5m distance between kids.
As schools are now closed, Morgenpost has reported on a bumpy start to online learning through the publicly developed platform Lernraum Berlin. On Twitter, the site's support team explained they had 20 times more hits than usual, (one million on Monday, according to the Morgenpost report) explaining the temporary unavailability of their service.
New travel restrictions and BVG changes
The government confirmed that hotels will only be used for “essential and explicitly not for tourist purposes’’ as Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission proposed a ban on all travel into the EU and four non-EU countries that make up Europe’s Schengen zone that will be discussed later today (March 17). This evening, Chancellor Merkel declared that the country will enforce the proposed ban on immigration into the EU for the upcoming 30 days.
Along the national guidelines, bus travel, including national, is being shut down, with major provider Flixbus halting operations from midnight tonight. Banks remain open (but not Sparkasse, see yesterday’s post!) and restaurants may continue serving food between the hours of 6am and 6pm.
The Federal Foreign Office has advised against travelling abroad. The solution for thousands of Germans still on holiday or business trips is still under discussion as spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office announces there is an ongoing intensive discussion to find a fast and pragmatic solution to bring citizens and residents home. Those who are abroad are able to get regular information from the Foreign Office's website.
On the Berlin level, starting tomorrow the BVG will temporarily close down tram lines 16, 18, 37 and 67 as well as U-Bahn line 55 according to Tagesspiegel information. Also starting on Wednesday, Metro lines will be limited to a bus or tram every 10 minutes, all other lines will be brought down to a 20-minute frequency.
City plans Corona hospital
To keep up with the increasing number of infections, the Senat has decreed today that all medical procedures that can be postponed must be delayed to reserve as much of the hospitals' capacities for urgent treatment of Corona infections.
Senator Kalayci also announced that the city will cooperate with the Bundeswehr armed forces and other partners to set up a dedicated hospital to treat up to 1000 Corona patients. That way, the Senat hopes shortages of hospital beds can be prevented.
In the meantime, Berlin’s Coronavirus hotline remains notoriously busy, for some the ‘try again later’ can extend for hours. According to the Senat’s Health Office, tests are only recommended for those who know they have been in contact with a confirmed positive Coronavirus case, or those who have recently been to a high-risk area, as listed by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The RKI has raised the level of threat from 'moderate' to 'high' for Germany.
Prominent cases
First player at the Berlin-based football club Hertha BSC has tested positive and put in a two week quarantine with the rest of the team and coaches.
CDU politician and would-be party leader Friedrich Merz has also tested positive for the virus. He has optimistically told Geman press agency DPA he will stay in quarantine at home until the end of next week.
Not suffering from symptoms but isolating at home is Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain building commissioner Florian Schmidt, as he announced on Twitter (for more on the “Green knight of public housing” check out the current issue of EXB – now available as a free PDF-download in solidarity with all our readers stuck at home).
Further cancellations
The legal profession is also hit by the Coronavirus crisis, cancelling and postponing all appointments that are not urgent, the President of the Federal Bar Association announced on Tuesday. In addition, Justice Senator Dirk Behrendt declared, that convicts with a sentence for less than three years need not start their terms before June 15 as prisons are expecting the virus to strike within their walls.
Production of upcoming feature film The Matrix 4, by the Warner Bros, has been put on hold. But those hoping to spot Keanu Reeves at their local Späti, fear not: shooting will be resumed at a later date.
Quarantine clubbing and calls for solidarity
Berliners refusing to succumb to shutdown gloom can now resort to 'home clubbing': local lobby group Clubcommission have started a campaign titled “United We Stream”, allowing the public to stream live sets from DJs in several closed clubs including Watergate, Tresor and Sage from 7pm daily. Check it out at www.unitedwestream.berlin, you're guaranteed to get in! Clubcommission is also asking for donations through betterplace.org to support clubs from Corona-accelerated Clubsterben.
Many other businesses are also having to look into unconventional options to secure their survival. Ice cream parlour Rosa Canina, for example, is asking customers to resist buying toilet paper and instead buy vouchers for post-shutdown times online as three of its Berlin shops have closed on Monday. Founder Julia Philipps has urged customers to do what they can to support their favourite restaurants and other local businesses. (Stay tuned for more on this topic on exberliner.com.)
Tonight you can also show your appreciation of all those professionals working hard for public health and safety: following the Spanish example, several facebook groups and pages are asking the public to open their windows at 9pm and clap for the 'heroes' of public service.
International efforts
EU leaders are discussing a potential EU-wide travel ban and adequate provision of medical equipment and promotion of research whilst limiting the economic consequences of the epidemic. A worthwhile, if ambitiously holistic target!
German pharmaceutical company CureVac (the one Trump reportedly wanted to buy out – a claim that has since been met with scrutiny) is about to receive loans of up to €80 million from the EU, according to their executive body, to speed up the search for a vaccine. The financial support will be provided by a loan from the EU investment bank. CureVac has an ongoing development programme and plans to start trials for a vaccination as early as June.