NewsCorona in Germany: RKI gives new numbers - two...

Corona in Germany: RKI gives new numbers – two points give hope

Fewer symptomatic cases in the vaccinated, lower mortality rate and fewer patients in clinics – the RKI weekly report on the corona situation in Germany.

Berlin – In its weekly report from Thursday (January 20th, 2022), the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) provides information on the current corona developments in Germany. Recent positive developments include an expected reduction in mortality from the omicron variant and significantly fewer symptomatic cases among vaccinated individuals.

Despite the sharp increase in the number of infections caused by the omicron wave, the number of severe courses of the disease and the hospitalization rate are declining slightly. However, the RKI writes that the current infection process there could well be delayed. Unvaccinated people in older age groups and people with pre-existing diseases that weaken the immune system continue to be most affected by severe disease progression. By far the highest incidence of hospitalization is in the over 80s.

Corona development in Germany: Particularly strong increase in children and adolescents

On the other hand, the proportion of positively tested samples has increased in almost all age groups in the past two weeks compared to the previous week. There are particularly many infected people after increased outbreaks in daycare centers and schools among children and young people. In the age group of 5 to 14 year olds, the 7-day index would have even doubled compared to the previous week. According to the RKI, the incidence is highest in 15 to 19 year olds with a value of 1183. This is followed by the group of 10 to 14 year olds with an incidence of 1138. Among children between 5 and 9 the incidence value is 1096 .

On the other hand, the number of symptomatic corona cases among vaccinated people has fallen: the RKI reports that “both the incidence of symptomatic cases and the incidence of hospitalization in all age groups shown and at all times were well below the respective incidence of the unvaccinated population”.

RKI on the corona situation in Germany: Omicron share with large regional differences

The omicron variant, which has been dominant since the first week of the year, is also responsible for the rapid increase in the number of corona, the spread of which, according to the RKI, still shows large regional differences. The proportion of omicron cases in Bremen last week was 96 percent, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania it was 16 percent: “By January 17, 2022, 20,936 (previous week: 9,848) omicron cases confirmed by genome sequencing were reported in Germany, as well as an additional 186,099 ( Previous week: 91,311 suspected cases with variant-specific PCR findings,” said the RKI report.

In view of the continuing omicron wave, the RKI is increasingly focusing on the burden of disease caused by Covid-19 in its evaluations. The experts have recently published estimates of people infected with Covid 19 symptoms of various degrees of severity in the Corona Weekly Report. Corresponding incidence estimates are based on the institute’s systems, which have been in existence for some time and are used to monitor the development of acute respiratory diseases in the population. One of them, for example, is based on information from the population.

Test capacity limit: RKI takes a look at the burden of disease caused by Corona

Specifically for the corona virus, there are now estimates of cases below the threshold for hospital admissions, such as the frequency of doctor visits: 178 per 100,000 inhabitants in the week up to January 16, according to the report. For the same period, it was estimated “that around 0.4 to 1.2 percent of children and adolescents up to the age of 14 and 0.5 to 1.1 percent of the population aged 15 and over contracted Covid-19 with symptoms of an acute respiratory disease “. A total of 3,900 is estimated for hospital admissions in the past week.

The background to the introduction of the supplementary data is that the reports on the number of people with a positive PCR test are becoming less complete due to the high load in the omicron wave, according to the RKI. Test capacities and health authorities are at the limit in many places. The RKI expects that the maximum deflection of the omicron wave in Germany will probably not be able to be precisely measured by reporting data. (ska with dpa)

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