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Beach in Spain (in April 2021)
Photo: Clara Margais / dpa
A new regulation for return travelers from abroad is about to start in Germany.
From August 1st, a test is expected to apply to people arriving from abroad.
Those who have been proven to be vaccinated and recovered are excluded.
New figures that the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) are now presenting should show how necessary this measure is.
Corona infections, which probably happened while traveling, are therefore playing an increasing role in the current infection rate in Germany.
This is what the RKI wrote in its weekly status report on Thursday evening.
In the period from June 28 to July 25, 3,662 cases were reported in which those affected were probably exposed to the virus abroad.
Problematic travel countries:
The most likely countries of infection in the four weeks considered were Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands, followed by Croatia and Greece.
A particularly strong increase has been recorded for Turkey since mid-July, where the number of cases recorded per week has roughly doubled.
France, Italy, Austria and Denmark are other popular travel destinations in the top ten of the list.
The spread of corona by returning summer vacationers is to be slowed down by new rules for entering Germany.
Delta predominant in Germany:
However, the majority of the transmissions still take place within Germany, emphasizes the RKI - we are talking about at least 81 percent.
Information on the likely country of infection is by no means available in every case.
According to the report, virus variants classified as worrying are predominant in Germany and other European countries.
In Germany, the significantly more contagious delta variant is now found in around nine out of ten cases in a sample (91 percent).
The proportion had grown very quickly over the weeks.
Seven-day incidence increases in young people:
According to the RKI, the seven-day incidence in Germany is currently increasing, especially among children, adolescents and young adults between 10 and 34 years of age.
By far the highest values for the previous week were recorded for the subgroups of 15 to 19 year olds at 40 and for 20 to 24 year olds at 45.
Above all, people over 60, for whom the vaccination rate is higher than for younger people, have so far been spared the significant increase.
Since the number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants is still low overall within seven days, health authorities can understand many chains of infection, the RKI notes.
The situation in the hospitals:
However, according to the institute, the decline in the number of hospital and intensive care unit cases with Covid-19 does not continue.
Instead, the proportion of patients with this diagnosis in all cases with severe respiratory infections rose slightly last week.
"Overall, however, the values are currently at a low level," says the paper.
jok / dpa
