Corona in Germany: the number of infections in schools is increasing rapidly

The RKI records a new high in the number of new corona infections. Hundreds of thousands of students are infected or in quarantine.

+++ 8:51 p.m .: In the past week, the number of corona infections in schools has increased again significantly. This is based on figures from the weekly KMK statistics from Thursday (01/27/2022). According to this, 147,000 schoolchildren across Germany tested positive for the corona virus last week. Another 212,000 had to be quarantined because of an increased risk of infection. In the week of January 10th to 16th, around 73,000 confirmed infections and 111,000 students in quarantine were reported.

The KMK statistics also show a significant increase in the number of infected teachers: While a little more than 5900 infected teachers were recorded in the week up to January 16, there were already 9551 in the calendar week up to January 23. A KMK However, the spokesman pointed out that double counting could also occur in both statistics if an infection or quarantine extended to both calendar weeks.

+

The KMK presents figures weekly. The basis is feedback from the federal states from more than 28,000 general schools and vocational schools with around ten million students. There are a total of around eleven million schoolchildren and around 40,000 schools and vocational schools in Germany.

Corona in Germany: More than half of the population has received a booster vaccination

+++ 2 p.m .: More than half of the population has received a booster vaccination against the corona virus. At least 43 million people (51.7 percent) have now been boosted, the Robert Koch Institute announced on Thursday. This is important for effective protection against the particularly contagious virus variant Omicron. Around 458,000 vaccinations against the corona virus were administered in Germany on Wednesday.

At least 75.6 percent of the population (62.9 million people) have been vaccinated once. The federal government is aiming for 80 percent of those who have been vaccinated for the first time by the end of January. The goal seems increasingly unrealistic. According to the RKI, at least 73.7 percent of the population (61.3 million) have received full basic protection. This usually requires two doses of vaccine. The RKI still counts people who have only received one dose of the Johnson & Johnson preparation – but this is currently being changed. In the future, people who have been vaccinated by Johnson & Johnson should only be considered fully vaccinated after a second vaccination dose – if possible with an mRNA vaccine such as that from Biontech/Pfizer or Moderna.

+

Currently, 24.4 percent of the population (20.3 million people) are not vaccinated. For 4.8 percent (four million) of these people aged 0 to 4 years there is no approved vaccine available. The RKI dashboard points out that the vaccination rates are to be understood as minimum rates, “since 100% coverage by the reporting system cannot be achieved”. The Robert Koch Institute assumes that the actual vaccination rate is up to five percentage points higher.

Corona: 168 districts have an incidence of over 1000

+++ 11.30 a.m .: The RKI again reported a new high of new corona infections in Germany on Thursday morning (see first report). The list of hotspots with an incidence value of more than 1000 is very long: according to statistics, there are 168. The capital Berlin remains a problem case. Six Berlin urban districts are in the top 10 corona hotspots:

Corona in Germany: Curious vaccination gaps revealed

+++ 9.45 a.m .: In Germany, since the vaccination campaign began 13 months ago, 42.6 million more digital vaccination certificates have been issued than corona vaccine doses have been administered. By last Friday (January 21, 2022), 204.7 million digital certificates for corona vaccinations had been issued, as the Federal Ministry of Health informed the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. However, according to the ministry, “only” 162.1 million doses for first, second and third vaccinations were injected up to this Monday, i.e. 42.6 million fewer.

According to the report, the ministry sees in the difference neither an indication of fake vaccination cards nor of millions of unreported vaccinations. A ministry spokesman gave “various reasons” when asked by NOZ. On the one hand, “especially at the beginning of the application, many certificates were automatically created by vaccination centers and sent to the vaccinated persons”, while the persons concerned had often already received a certificate in a pharmacy. Furthermore, certificates could “also be issued more than once if, for example, a person loses their certificate”.

Corona in Germany: Strange gap in the registration of vaccinations

However, the discrepancy has grown considerably in recent weeks. According to the ministry, 162,397,255 digital vaccination certificates had been issued by December 15 and, according to the Robert Koch Institute, 136,641,993 vaccination doses had been administered. In mid-December, the “overhang” of certificates was “only” just under 26 million compared to currently more than 42 million.

The vaccinations of the resident doctors are organized by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV). According to the NOZ, this cannot explain the gap. “On the basis of the billing data from panel doctors, we assume that there is no general underreporting by the digital vaccination rate monitoring (DIM) and therefore cannot explain the gap shown,” said a KBV spokesman for the NOZ and added: “To this In order to explain the gap, in-depth analyzes of the data on the issue of certificates are necessary, which currently only the Robert Koch Institute can carry out.”

+

The RKI did not want to comment and referred to the Federal Ministry of Health. Criticism came from the opposition. The health policy spokeswoman for the Left Group, Kathrin Vogler, told the NOZ: “This calls for further clarification. The federal government urgently needs to ensure clarity.” Vogler pointed out that probably not everyone who has been vaccinated also has a digital certificate, especially from the very old. “Then something would have gone wrong with more than every fourth vaccination.”

The AfD faction is also irritated. “The enormous discrepancy between the RKI’s vaccination numbers and the digital vaccination certificates once again shows the data chaos in the federal government,” said the spokesman for labor and social affairs, René Springer, of the NOZ.

Corona case numbers: RKI reports more than 200,000 new infections in Germany

First report from Thursday, January 27th, 2022, 6 a.m.: Berlin – The nationwide seven-day incidence reported by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) exceeded the threshold of 1000 for the first time exactly two years after the first confirmed corona case in Germany. The RKI gave the value of new infections per 100,000 people and week on Thursday morning as 1017.4.

For comparison: the day before the value was 940.6. A week ago, the nationwide incidence was 638.8 (previous month: 222.7). The number of new corona infections also reached a record value and at the same time exceeded the threshold of 200,000: the health authorities in Germany reported 203,136 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. This emerges from figures that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 4:59 a.m.

On January 19, the number had exceeded 100,000 for the first time. A week ago there were 133,536 new infections recorded. Experts assume that there will be a high and increasing number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data, partly because testing capacities and health authorities are at their limits in many places.

Corona case numbers in Germany: new infections, deaths and incidence

Corona case numbers in Germany: RKI reports 188 deaths

As the RKI further announced, 188 new deaths related to the corona virus were counted on Thursday.

According to the latest information from the institute, the health authorities have recorded a total of 9,238,931 cases of infection since the beginning of the pandemic. The total number of registered corona deaths in Germany is now 117,314. The RKI puts the number of people in Germany who have recovered from an illness caused by the coronavirus at around 7,443,300.

The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 people within seven days was 4.26 (Tuesday 4.07; Monday 3.87) according to the RKI. (csu/tu/ska with dpa/AFP)

List of rubrics: © Matthias Balk/dpa