It’s summer, life mostly takes place outside, but Corona just doesn’t want to go away this year. The number of recorded cases remains high, as does the burden on the healthcare system.
Berlin – Many sick people in the population, increased outbreaks in old people’s and nursing homes and an increasing number of intensive care patients – there is no relief in the corona situation in sight for the time being.
The pressure of infection remains high in all age groups, writes the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in its weekly report on Thursday evening. Perhaps the most gratifying thing: The nationwide seven-day incidence of reported cases remained largely unchanged compared to the previous reporting week – “a plateau is emerging,” writes the RKI.
However, even if the number of cases remains the same, further increases in serious illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths can be expected. The authority recently recorded an increase in outbreaks in old people’s and nursing homes. Outbreaks with at least one new case were reported from 235 of these facilities in the past week, compared to 192 in the previous week.
Again more patients in the intensive care unit
The number of patients who have to be treated in an intensive care unit with a Covid 19 diagnosis has also increased again. According to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, it was 1243 on Thursday (previous week: 1047).
According to the RKI, severe illnesses continue to affect older people over the age of 80 the most. In this age group, around 25 per 100,000 inhabitants came to the hospital last week with a severe respiratory infection and Covid-19. Across all age groups, this value was 3.7 – that corresponds to around 3100 new hospital admissions per week.
Omicron variant BA.5 dominates
According to the data, the omicron variant BA.5, which has been dominant since mid-June, has now almost completely displaced all other variants. According to the latest sample from the week before last, their share is now 83 percent – after 77 percent the week before. The proportion of BA.4 infections has increased from 6.7 to 7 percent, while BA.2 continues to decrease.
For the past calendar week, the authority calculated a number of 800,000 to 1.3 million Sars-CoV-2 infected people with symptoms of an acute respiratory disease. The number of doctor visits due to acute respiratory diseases is still significantly higher than usual for the time of year. 1.2 million consultations were recorded for the past week, a good quarter of them due to a Sars-CoV-2 infection.
The RKI still advises avoiding contacts if symptoms of a respiratory disease occur, such as a runny nose, sore throat or cough, regardless of vaccination status and rapid test results. dpa
