According to the RKI, the seven-day incidence reached a new high of 470.6 on Friday. The number of new infections in Germany is also higher than ever.
The number of new corona infections transmitted to the Robert Koch Institute within one day has exceeded the threshold of 90,000 cases for the first time. According to the RKI, the health authorities reported 92,223 cases in 24 hours on Friday morning. This emerges from figures that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 4:35 a.m. On Wednesday, the number was greater than 80,000 for the first time. Exactly one week ago there were 56,335 new infections recorded, although there were gaps in tests and reports during the holidays. The seven-day incidence also peaked at 470.6. For comparison: the day before the value was 427.7. A week ago, the nationwide incidence was 303.4 (previous month: 375.0).
RKI: 286 deaths within 24 hours
According to the new information, 286 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 264 deaths. The RKI has counted 7,835,451 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections go undetected. The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was 3.09 (Wednesday 3.13; Tuesday 3.34) according to the RKI. The RKI gave the number of recovered people on Friday morning as 6,914,700. The number of people who died from or involved a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 115,337.
Omicron variant dominates in Germany
As the RKI stated in its latest weekly report on Thursday, the highly contagious omicron variant is now also the dominant variant of the corona virus in Germany. Accordingly, the proportion of all cases transmitted in the first calendar week of this year was 73 percent. However, there are still major differences nationwide. According to the institute, the Omicron share was between eleven percent in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and 96 percent in Bremen. The RKI warned that a sharp increase in infections is expected in the next few weeks, including among those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered. Initial studies indicated a lower proportion of hospitalizations in those fully vaccinated compared to infections with the delta variant. However, the data situation is not yet sufficient for a final assessment of the severity of the diseases caused by the omicron variant.
Doctors’ representatives: false security through rapid tests
In view of the dominance of the new variant, the representative of the German medical officer, Ute Teichert, warned against rapid tests as a means of free testing for infected people in isolation. “As long as it is unclear which rapid tests reliably detect the omicron variant, it is problematic to use rapid tests as an alternative to PCR tests when testing infected people,” said the chairwoman of the Federal Association of Physicians in the Public Health Service (BVÖGD). Newspapers from the Funke media group (Friday editions). “If the PCR tests become scarce, as expected, we are heading for a difficult situation.” According to the new quarantine rules that the federal and state governments had agreed on, infected people and contact persons can usually be tested after seven days using a PCR test or a certified rapid test, thus shortening the period by three days.
Imminent loss of control in view of the increasing number of infections
In view of the sharp increase in the number of infections, Teichert also warned of a loss of control over the infection data: “If the number of infections continues to rise, it will be difficult for the health authorities to enter the data on a daily basis.” If the staff is not significantly increased in the short term, “we will not have a clear overview in the next few weeks,” she told the Funke newspapers. Despite the many helpers, the staff in the health authorities are no longer sufficient. Many health authorities have therefore restricted contact tracing. You could only take care of larger outbreaks, such as in nursing homes. “It is now particularly the responsibility of the infected person to go into quarantine.”
Source From: Stern
