German air force to move ICU patients as COVID cases rise

By FRANK JORDANS
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — The German air force will begin assisting the transfer of intensive care patients Friday as the government warned that the situation in the country is more serious than at any point in the pandemic. Citing the sharp rise in cases, Health Minister Jens Spahn said contacts between people need to be sharply reduced to curb the spread of the virus. Spahn said Germany was having to organize large-scale transfers of patients within the country for the first time since the outbreak began in early 2020. The country’s disease control agency said 76,414 newly confirmed cases were reported in the past 24 hours. The Robert Koch Institute, a government agency, said Germany also had 357 new deaths from COVID-19, taking the cumulative total to 100,476.