Doctors' representatives fear that bottlenecks in pediatric medicine will worsen over Christmas and New Year's Eve. "At the moment we are observing that infections with the RS virus are declining, but more and more children are now coming with the flu and other respiratory diseases," said Jörg Dötsch, President of the German Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Tuesday ). "Due to the personnel situation on the holidays, the situation in clinics and practices will be even more tense than it is now."

The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, also warns of further increasing pressure over the turn of the year. "I assume that this acute crisis in pediatric medicine will last until February," he said. The number of cases of infection is expected to increase further in the coming weeks, not only among children but also among adults.

"At the same time, the children's hospitals come under additional pressure over the holidays due to the reduced duty rosters - especially when many pediatricians in private practice close their practices during this time or reduce the office hours."

The acute crisis situation is exacerbated by the fact that the corona virus continues to cause "mass infections and failures," said Montgomery. If you want to protect yourself and your children, you should voluntarily wear a mask where the risk of infection is high.