See each other by video call this Christmas, Angela Merkel tells Germans

Germany is struggling with a rise in coronavirus infections and deaths. Praise for Merkel for having tamed the first wave has turned to criticism of her perceived failure to tackle the second.

Reuters

December 19, 2020 / 18:39 IST

Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans on December 19 to avoid visiting family members over Christmas and to use video calls instead for greetings, the way service members stationed abroad do, as the country battles COVID-19.

Germany is struggling with a rise in coronavirus infections and deaths. Praise for Merkel for having tamed the first wave has turned to criticism of her perceived failure to tackle the second.

"Women and men stationed far away from home to ensure our security know what it means to have limited contact with loved ones," Merkel said in her weekly video podcast.

"They know what it means to only be able to Skype over a long period of time instead of being together," she said, referring to Microsoft's video calling system.

Germany recorded more than 31,000 new infections and 702 deaths on Saturday, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said. That was double the number of infections reported on Dec. 15, one day before Germany went into a hard lockdown that is expected to last until at least Jan. 10.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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