Berlin The nationwide number of corona infections detected since the beginning of the pandemic has exceeded the 20 million mark. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the total number on Saturday morning as 20,145,054. The actual value is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections are not recorded.
The RKI gave the seven-day incidence of 1758.4 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within one week. The health authorities reported 252,026 new corona cases to the RKI within one day.
“I expect a further increase in the daily reported cases for a few days, maybe weeks,” said the Bremen epidemiologist Hajo Zeeb of the German Press Agency on the possible further development of the infection process. “Precisely because the omicron subtype BA.2 still has very good potential for distribution with the current loosening.”
Due to seasonal effects and gradually increasing immunity, a plateau and a drop can then be expected. In general, however, the course remains difficult to predict, according to Zeeb.
The Hamburg intensive care doctor Stefan Kluge explained that there is currently a stagnation in the occupancy of the intensive care units with just over 2000 cases. “The situation in the intensive care units is stable.” The normal wards are quite full, but the majority of the patients who tested positive were not admitted because of a corona infection.
Hospitals: Staff shortages at record levels
The Director of the UKE Clinic for Intensive Care Medicine summarized: “At the moment we can say: The hospital burden is there, but it is easy to handle.” Basically, one sees severe courses much less often than at the zenith of the delta wave said Kluge. However, he warned that an omicron infection could also be difficult.
Meanwhile, what is having a particularly strong impact on hospitals nationwide is the loss of staff due to infections. “We have never had a failure rate like this, which you can also hear from other hospitals, during the pandemic,” said Kluge.
Even if the booster rate for doctors and nurses in the UKE, for example, is high and they are therefore usually only mildly ill, they are absent for seven to ten days. The cuts can be clearly felt in both the medical and nursing fields.
Bottlenecks have recently become apparent elsewhere: the situation in the health authorities is still very tense in view of the record number of corona infections. The chairman of the Federal Association of Physicians in the Public Health Service, Johannes Nießen, emphasized that there was “no more room for improvement” when it came to the capacities for recording.
The number of infections has recently risen, especially among older people, and among the more than 200 or even 300 deaths reported daily, there are many older people, warned epidemiologist Zeeb. For this age group in particular, he emphasized, vaccination protection that is as up-to-date as possible remains extremely important.
Lauterbach warns unvaccinated people of a high risk of infection
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach also recently reiterated his vaccination appeals and warned of the risk of infection for those who have not been vaccinated in view of the number of cases. “Anyone who says to themselves that I’ve been through the pandemic for two years and have never been infected – they have to consider that the risk is now higher than it has ever been for them,” said the SPD politician on Friday.
The scientific experts are critical of the much-discussed end of the mask requirement. Wearing a mask for self-protection is and will remain very important, Zeeb made clear. Intensive care physician Kluge also emphasized how effectively the mask protects and called for the mask requirement not to be dropped yet.
From a medical point of view, one would of course want to wait for the peak in infection rates before approaching the measure of wearing a mask. Zeeb emphasized that the task remains to protect vulnerable people and, above all, “to increase their vaccination status as much as possible”.
Experts warn that many people will continue to be infected in the summer.
(Photo: dpa)
The shift to individually responsible action in view of the largely falling Corona requirements could work, “but we will only be reasonably sure of that for some time,” warned the expert. The Berlin virologist Christian Drosten said in the ARD “Tagesthemen” that it was very important that the easing was not understood as an unthinking opening.
“You have to watch this happening closely, the virus has not become absolutely harmless.” Drosten continued: “Now for the very near future it is certainly the case that we will keep these high numbers in Germany for the time being.” It is also problematic that now many older people are increasingly infected.
Infections take place in schools
The highest incidences are also in school age. “That means it’s coming out of the schools at the moment. But if the holidays are now, then that will be stopped. ”After Easter, when it is warm, the infection process will be mitigated.
“But it won’t stop completely like last year either,” said Drosten’s prediction. “Well, I would guess: that will swing up again in the summer. We don’t have an infection-free summer.” But it’s a summer. “If we wear a mask indoors, for example, then you can moderate what is happening in such a way that it doesn’t get out of control.”
Drosten went on to say that in winter “you have to take tougher action again, I would expect now”. According to the immunologist Carsten Watzl, breakthrough infections with the omicron variant significantly increase the immune protection of vaccinated people. “An infection is like a single dose of vaccine,” he told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Saturday). “For vaccinated people, it acts like a booster with an adapted vaccine.”
According to the Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology, the current high number of infections and the associated immune protection can pay off in the autumn – “if no new, more dangerous variant comes along”. Whether compulsory vaccination is still necessary in view of this is “the $100,000 question”.
The number of corona-infected patients who came to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was 7.39 on Friday (Thursday: 7.28). Among them are many people with a positive corona test who have another main illness.
According to the new RKI information, 278 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. The number of people who died from or involved a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 128,388.
More: Lauterbach: The actual number of infections is more than 600,000 per day