Corona: RKI again reports more than 250,000 new infections – mask requirement in schools should fall from May

The corona numbers have been increasing in Germany for nine days in a row. Lauterbach warns of a difficult autumn. The news ticker.

Update from March 11, 3:45 p.m .: There is a lot of discussion about the corona measures in schools. Now the restrictions should be lifted by May at the latest. As the President of the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK) and Schleswig-Holstein Minister of Education Karin Prien (CDU) announced on Friday, this applies to wearing masks and tests without a reason. This emerges from the KMK consultations on Friday in Lübeck.

A key argument here is that the openings in society as a whole cannot bypass the schools. However, one wants to go a cautious way back to the normal state, “the guideline” is “always the well-being of the children and young people”.

Corona: court overturns mask requirement in discos and clubs in Lower Saxony

Update from March 11, 1:07 p.m .: A court in Lower Saxony is temporarily suspending the mask requirement in discos, clubs and shisha bars throughout the state. The Lüneburg Higher Administrative Court complained that the Lower Saxony Corona Ordinance does not provide for any exceptions to wearing a mask, for example for drinking or smoking.

The judges decided that a mask requirement was legitimate given the infection situation. In the specific case, however, it was designed inappropriately. The state has not regulated any exceptions to the mask requirement “without any understandable reason” that would make it possible for visitors to the companies to eat, drink or smoke shisha pipes. This means that there is no balance between the considerable economic interests of the operators and the health protection of those who visit discos, clubs and shisha bars or work there, as well as the rest of the population. The operator of a nightclub in Osnabrück had opposed these regulations with an urgent application for norm control. In Lower Saxony, FFP2 masks have been mandatory since March 3rd in addition to the 2G-Plus rule indoors and outdoors.

Laboratory Association: Capacity utilization for PCR tests too low

Update from March 11, 12:10 p.m .: Spring is coming, is Corona over? “The utilization of the laboratories in relation to Sars-CoV-2-PCR tests is currently low (63 percent)”, tweeted the Association of Labore ALM eV this Friday. The laboratory association recommends that people without symptoms are again primarily examined with PCR, including people at risk of a severe course. Despite the few PCR tests, the positive rate rose to 51.9 percent in the 9th calendar week.

Corona: Lauterbach warns of an increase in deaths

Update from March 11, 10:25 a.m .: 4,200 people have died of Covid-19 in the past four weeks, says RKI boss Lothar Wieler. 86 percent of these affect people over the age of 70. 14 percent – that is 588 of them – are under 70 years old, the RKI boss calculates.

“The situation is objectively much worse than the mood”

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach already emphasized at the press conference on the current corona situation in Berlin that the daily death toll was “unacceptable” for him. “The situation is objectively much worse than the mood,” said Lauterbach on Friday in Berlin, referring to the significantly increasing number of cases.

The R value of the Omicron variant is so high that the summer will be less carefree. In Germany, the pandemic is not over yet given the high number of unvaccinated people. Lauterbach also warns of a difficult autumn. In this way, omicron could also be the dominant variant in the future, but it was also possible that the omicron mutation would become more dangerous. A possible return of the Delta variant must also be kept in mind. According to Lauterbach, the fourth scenario is recombination.

Update from March 11, 7.15 a.m .: The number of infections in Germany has been increasing for more than nine days. Nevertheless, from March 20th almost all corona measures should be dropped. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and RKI President Lothar Wieler want to explain the situation today. You can follow the press conference in Berlin here in the live ticker.

RKI: Incidence increases to 1439.0

Update from March 11, 6:06 a.m .: The nationwide 7-day incidence increases to 1439.0 on Friday. For comparison: the day before the value was 1388.5. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) recorded 252,836 new corona infections within one day. That’s 35,243 more cases than on Friday a week ago, when 217,593 positive tests were reported. According to experts, however, many corona cases are currently not recorded at all.

In addition, 249 deaths were recorded. Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, 125,272 people in Germany have died with or from Sars-CoV-2.

According to RKI data, more than 16.7 million people in Germany have been shown to have been infected with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the corona pandemic. The Berlin Institute estimates the number of people who have recovered at 13,153,300.

Corona in Germany: hospitalization incidence at 6.74

The number of corona-infected patients who came to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was 6.74 (Wednesday 6.62) according to the RKI. Among them are many people with a positive corona test who have another main illness.

More than 2,000 Covid-19 patients are still being treated in the intensive care units. Of these, 900 must be artificially ventilated. This emerges from the data of the DIVI intensive care register on Friday morning. The number of patients has been at this high level since January.

Corona case numbers in Germany: RKI reports 252,836 new infections on Friday (March 11, 2022)

Corona: Lauterbach warns of “significant problems” in autumn – RKI reports new record

Update from March 10, 1:57 p.m .: Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach has again called for more vaccinations in view of the increasing number of corona (see first report) and the slow pace of vaccination (see update from March 10, 12:50 p.m.) . The gap is so large that “without a significant improvement in vaccination readiness and vaccination rates, we will have significant problems again in the fall,” Lauterbach warned in Berlin on Thursday.

This is also shown by the omicron wave, which is now growing again and which is probably largely driven by the sub-variant BA.2. If left unchecked, there would be 200 to 300 deaths every day for many weeks. “We can’t accept that,” said Lauterbach. Nobody can be satisfied with the current pandemic situation. The number of cases rose again, there were high death rates, and it was also to be feared that hospitalization rates would rise again. The Minister of Health explained that it will therefore continue to be important in the future to have a functioning legal basis that enables extensive containment measures in corona hotspots.

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Corona vaccination rate in Germany is paralyzed: again less than 100,000 doses a day

Update from March 10, 12:50 p.m .: Corona vaccinations in Germany are still progressing slowly. Around 95,000 doses of vaccine were administered across Germany on Wednesday. On Wednesday of the previous week, there were significantly more with around 112,000 cans. According to the RKI, the number of corona vaccine doses administered has been below 100,000 for several days.

In the meantime, 75.7 percent of people in Germany (at least 62.9 million people) have received basic protection. Nationwide, 57.6 percent (47.9 million) also received a booster vaccination. 76.4 percent (63.5 million people) have been vaccinated at least once. Around 32,000 people have now been vaccinated with the new Novavax preparation. The campaign with Nuvaxovid started in Germany almost two weeks ago.

The RKI has long pointed out that the numbers shown are to be understood as minimum vaccination rates. The institute assumes that the actual vaccination rate is up to five percentage points higher than indicated on the dashboard.

Criticism of the Corona timetable: “Sensible measures successfully talked down”

Update from March 10th, 9:21 a.m .: From March 20th, all corona measures should largely fall. “The principle of hope rules,” said the head of the World Doctors, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, to the newspapers of the Funke media group and the Augsburger Allgemeine . The agreed basic protection is better than nothing. But: “Politicians have successfully talked about further, sensible measures.”

The German Foundation for Patient Protection also considers the change in the Infection Protection Act to be insufficient to ensure the protection of all vulnerable groups, such as those in need of care who live at home and not in homes. Several federal states had also criticized the plans. Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), for example, considers it “grossly negligent if the federal government hands over effective instruments for emergencies without need”. His Lower Saxony colleague Stephan Weil (SPD) had said: “You don’t throw away the fire extinguisher if it’s still burning.” Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) had also expressed his criticism.

Bioinformatician Lars Kaderali sees Germany in the sixth corona wave

Update from March 10, 8.47 a.m .: The Greifswald bioinformatician Lars Kaderali from Greifswald sees Germany in a new corona wave. “This is mainly due to the fact that the omicron subtype BA.2 is even more infectious than the original variant,” Kaderali told the dpa news agency. In addition, there would be the easing of the corona measures. “In combination, both lead to the increasing number of cases.” The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has been reporting an increase in the nationwide seven-day incidence for about a week.

With regard to the widely expected flattening of the infection curve in summer, Kaderali said: “The seasonal effect will probably not be enough to bring the incidence down to 0.” Health Minister Lauterbach’s assumption that there could also be a corona wave* in the summer months , he thinks plausible. The openings so far could already mean that “we will see a very, very strong increase again and then go into the summer with high incidences.”

Kaderali, a member of the Federal Government’s Corona Expert Council, nevertheless considers the easing announced by the Federal Government to be justifiable. Although the corona numbers have increased, the situation in the hospitals is still undramatic. “But you should only loosen up carefully and only with the option of going back if you realize that it’s getting too much.”

Corona: More than 250,000 cases – RKI registers record number of new infections

First report from March 10, 2022

Berlin – The Corona* pandemic had finally flattened out after a long winter, and the Robert Koch Institute had reported comparatively falling incidences for weeks. For a few days, the infection process in Germany has been picking up speed again. Now the RKI is even reporting an absolute infection record.

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Corona: RKI reports more than 250,000 cases – health authorities count more infected people than ever before

For the first time in the corona pandemic, more than 250,000 new corona infections were transmitted to the Robert Koch Institute within one day. According to the RKI, the health authorities reported 262,752 cases in 24 hours on Thursday morning. A week ago there were 210,673 infections. The seven-day incidence also increased significantly to 1388.5. For comparison: the day before the value was 1319.0. A week ago, the nationwide incidence was 1174.1 (previous month: 1465.4).

But according to experts, the actual number of infected people is likely to be much higher. One reason is the limited capacity of health authorities, for example, and contacts are often only tracked to a limited extent. According to the new information, 259 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 267 deaths. The number of corona-infected patients who came to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was 6.62 according to the RKI on Wednesday (6.15 on Tuesday). Among them are many people with a positive corona test who have another main illness. Here you can read Wednesday’s news ticker. *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

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