Corona case numbers: "Everything sewn on edge" – Lauterbach warns of relaxation hysteria

The RKI reports falling numbers of cases and incidences. But the Minister of Health warns urgently.

+++ 8.45 a.m .: Health Minister Karl Lauterbach commented on the decisions of the Corona summit and the current pandemic development on Friday morning. “If we open too quickly, the number of cases will increase again,” emphasized Lauterbach – and referred to a “vulnerable” phase of the corona pandemic. Lauterbach appealed to the federal states not to decide on additional easing of the decisions of the Corona summit. “It’s all sewn on edge,” said Lauterbach at the federal press conference: “That’s the maximum we can afford in terms of easing.” He also warned against making oneself politically popular with additional easing.

“So far we have come through the delta and omicron wave well,” said the Minister of Health. Lauterbach again pointed out that there would be “new dangers” in autumn and winter. He referred to international experts. One has to reckon with new corona variants, possibly also those “that penetrate deeper into the tissue than the omicron variant”. Compulsory vaccination is the appropriate measure to take precautionary measures. Lars Schaade, Vice President of the Robert Koch Institute, then confirmed Lauterbach’s assessment that the omicron wave had peaked. However, the fall in the number of corona cases is deceptive. The situation in some intensive care units is still tense.

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Corona case numbers: Incidence continues to fall – new infections below the level of the previous week

First report from Friday, February 18th, 2022, 3:45 a.m.: Berlin/Frankfurt – The nationwide seven-day incidence has fallen again – now for the sixth day in a row. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the value of new corona infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Friday (02/18/2022) as 1371.7. Experts now assume that the omicron wave actually breaks.

Corona in Germany: development of the number of cases in a weekly overview

Yesterday, on Thursday (02/17/2022), the seven-day incidence for Germany was 1385. On Friday of the previous week the value was 1472.2.

As the RKI announced, citing data from the health authorities, the number of new infections within 24 hours on Friday morning was 220,048 – after 235,626 on Thursday and 240,172 on Friday last week. As the RKI further announced, 264 other deaths related to the corona virus were also recorded on Friday.

Corona case numbers: RKI has reported more than 13 million cases of infection since the beginning of the pandemic

According to the RKI, the health authorities have recorded a total of 13,255,989 cases of infection since the beginning of the pandemic. The total number of registered corona deaths in Germany is now 120,992. The RKI puts the number of people who have recovered from corona disease in Germany at around 9,484,400.

In November, the federal and state governments had defined the so-called hospitalization incidence as the decisive benchmark for tightening or relaxing the corona measures. This value indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants are hospitalized within seven days because of a corona infection. According to the latest RKI report, the hospitalization incidence nationwide on Thursday was 5.97. A week ago it was 6.23.

Corona case numbers in Germany: experts assume higher values

Despite the positive development, the figures only have limited significance. Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. Test capacities and health authorities are therefore at the limit in many places, and contacts are only tracked to a limited extent. In addition, the number of people who no longer have their infection confirmed by a PCR test is likely to increase – the infection is therefore not included in the official statistics.

(skr / tu)

List of rubrics: © Kay Nietfeld/dpa