Summer months with many corona infections in Germany are coming to an end. The numbers are now falling, but the RKI continues to assess the risk of Covid-19 as high.
Berlin – The ebbing of the omicron wave this summer is also reflected in the severe corona diseases. “These data consistently show that the peak of the current wave has passed, even in the case of severe illnesses,” says the weekly report of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Covid-19 on Thursday evening. The authors describe declining trends in the number of patients with Covid-19 in German intensive care units and in Covid-19 diagnoses.
“Despite the overall further decline in the number of cases, the infection pressure in the general population remains high in all age groups,” warns the RKI. It estimates that 300,000 to 800,000 people in Germany fell ill last week, and 190,000 doctor visits are assumed in this context. This is also a decrease compared to the week before, it said. The nationwide seven-day incidence, which is based on the number of positive PCR tests, fell by a total of twelve percent in a weekly comparison, according to the report.
Despite the improved operating situation in recent weeks, the burden on the health system remains high, according to the RKI. A high number of hospital admissions, Covid 19 intensive care patients and deaths are expected to continue in the coming weeks. According to the report, people over 80 are particularly at risk.
A random sample of analyzed positive cases shows that it is still almost exclusively the omicron subline BA.5 that causes infections: the proportion is around 95 percent for the third week in a row. The other proofs are for BA.2 and BA.4.
According to the report, the BA.2.75 subline, whose spread is being observed in India and other regions worldwide, has so far been found 17 times in Germany. “A growth advantage of BA.2.75 in a BA.4/BA.5-dominated event, as in Germany, is currently unknown,” notes the RKI. dpa
