Government and countries will meet for their next Corona summit on Wednesday. The starting position is difficult. Although the lockdown continues to have an effect with falling numbers in practically all categories, the highly contagious Omikron variant is just around the corner. Politicians must therefore decide how they intend to react to the expected massive wave of infections.
Among other things, the discussion was about defining countries with an already strong omicron distribution such as Great Britain and the Netherlands as variant areas, but this immediately led to an outcry from the tourism industry. It is clear that provisions must be made for staff shortages in all areas of the critical infrastructure, as significantly higher numbers of infections are to be expected than in the previous waves.
The newly established Gecko expert committee, which held its premiere meeting away from the public on Tuesday, could influence the talks for the first time. The government and provincial governors can only see each other on a screen. Most of the summit takes place virtually.
It is also unclear how the countries position themselves. Vienna has been toying with a stricter course for a long time – so it is quite possible that the countries will again cook their own soup anyway … (APA / red)
