The incidence information in Germany currently provides an incomplete picture. The increase in new corona infections recorded by the RKI is all the more remarkable. Is this the start of a new wave?
Berlin – The number of officially recorded corona infections has recently risen sharply. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the nationwide seven-day incidence on Thursday morning at 409.9. A week ago there were 281.1 cases per week and 100,000 inhabitants (previous month: 242.5). According to this information, the incidence has increased by 46 percent within a week. Whether this is the beginning of a new wave can only be said with certainty in retrospect.
Especially since the incidence data only provide a very incomplete picture. On the one hand, because the severity of the diseases and the situation in the clinics are also important for an assessment of the situation. The RKI wanted to provide information on this in its weekly management report on Thursday evening. On the other hand, the basis for calculating the incidence is laboratory tests, which are now being carried out less frequently than in previous phases of the pandemic.
Not all infected people have a PCR test done
By far not all infected people have a so-called PCR test done. Only these tests count in the statistics. In addition, late registrations or transmission problems can lead to a distortion of individual daily values.
There are still clear regional differences in the reported new infections. According to the RKI, the highest seven-day incidences are currently in Saarland at 628.3 and Bavaria at 503.2 – the lowest numbers are in Hamburg at 163.8 and Berlin at 243.3.
The health authorities in Germany recently reported 78,863 new corona infections (previous week: 56,978) and 94 deaths (previous week: 106) to the RKI within one day. Here, too, comparisons of the data are only possible to a limited extent due to the test behavior, late registrations or transmission problems. The RKI has counted 33,216,006 proven 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. dpa
