Number of cases in Bonn increases to ten City Council wants own diagnostic centre for coronavirus
Bonn · According to the city of Bonn, the number of people infected with the coronavirus has increased again. While there were five confirmed cases on Monday, the number has now risen to ten. A special contact point is to relieve doctors and clinics.
Because virologists expect a further increase in coronavirus cases, the city of Bonn plans to open its own diagnostic centre in the next few days. According to GA information, there are talks that the German Red Cross will run the facility in a building in Gotenstraße with its own staff. After throat swabs were taken on site, a transport service would bring the samples to the Bonn university hospital to have them examined.
"The aim is to relieve the doctors and hospitals", says city spokeswoman Monika Hörig. In addition, the danger that infected people come into the practices and additionally infect other, possibly seriously ill people there is minimized - something that many doctors in Bonn have long been calling for. At present, the Health Office is working with the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians and the hospitals on the concrete tasks that will be bundled in the Diagnostics Centre. "This also includes the question of who gets there and how," says Hörig. The treatment must be carried out in a "controlled way". The city will inform the citizens about the exact procedure in the coming dayss
The city of Düsseldorf will show what the work in the diagnostic centre can look like. There, it already started operations a week ago. A telephone hotline with trained staff is available around the clock to which citizens can report. If it has been clarified on the information hotline that a test is necessary, an appointment for the next day is arranged directly. Afterwards, those affected must come to the centre to have a throat swab taken. Alternatively, a team of doctors visits the possible infected persons at home.
(Original text: Lisa Inhoffen and Nicolas Ottersbach; Translation: Mareike Graepel)
