Germany deploys Air Force planes to transport seriously ill Covid patients as hospitals run out of bed

Germany on Friday deployed its Air Force to transfer seriously ill COVID-19 patients from overwhelmed hospitals in the south as the country’s coronavirus cases continued to break records.

Cases in Germany have been rising sharply in recent weeks, after seeing a dip in the summer, with daily new infections hitting a record above 76,000 on Friday.

German news agency dpa reported that starting Friday, a Luftwaffe A310 medevac plane will start transporting seriously ill COVID patients from the southern state of Bavaria to the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia

The military is setting aside two planes for such operations going forward. 

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“Transporting 80 or 100 patients within Germany is possible once, or perhaps twice, but not indefinitely,” Health Minister Jens Spahn said.

"We must stop this wave now, otherwise we'll experience exactly what we always wanted to avoid, namely an overburdening of our health care system," he added.

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Citing the sharp rise in cases, Spahn said contacts between people need to be sharply reduced to curb the spread of the virus.

“The situation is dramatically serious, more serious than it's been at any point in the pandemic,” he told reporters in Berlin.

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Otherwise, there could be a "complete" reduction, he said, without mentioning "lockdown".

According to reports, hospitals in southern and eastern regions of Germany are running out of intensive care beds because of the large number of seriously ill COVID-19 patients.

(With reports from agencies)