Most new infections since May - Spahn: Worrying

The new infections reported daily have reached their highest level since May, and the Federal Minister of Health is alarmed. What does this mean for starting school after the holidays? North Rhine-Westphalia starts with strict precautions like no other country.

Berlin (dpa) - The number of new infections reported daily in Germany has reached the highest value since the beginning of May.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the health authorities reported 1226 new corona infections within one day. The value was last higher on May 9th with 1251 new infections registered.

The peak of the daily reported new infections was at the beginning of April at more than 6000. The number had tended to fall after the values ​​still exceeded 1000 in May, and has been rising again since the end of July.

"This is without a doubt worrying," said Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn on Deutschlandfunk. "Here we see that through return trips, but also through parties of all kinds, through family celebrations in many places in the country, we have smaller and larger outbreaks in almost all regions of the country. And that can of course - if we are not all together now watch out - develop a dynamic. " It is important to be "very, very vigilant" because it is no longer just local outbreaks.

The health system can cope with the current number of infections well, said Spahn. But: "With every infection it becomes more difficult for the health authorities." The minister again appealed to the citizens to comply with the hygiene rules, wear masks, keep their distance and keep the frame at events. "Where there is alcohol involved, where the festive event actually turns into a party, it goes very, very quickly."

Regarding the prospects for big events, he expressed himself skeptically: "Whether it's the football games now, whether it's other big events, that is something that I am still very cautious about, because these are of course the events that are also symbolic for them have small ones. "

North Rhine-Westphalia starts the new school year in the morning after the summer holidays - as the only federal state that requires a mask in class. Only elementary and special school students at primary level are excluded. But they too have to wear masks in the hallways and other school grounds.

The resumption of regular classes for around 2.5 million children and young people at 5500 schools in North Rhine-Westphalia is being followed with excitement nationwide. In the densely populated federal state, it could become particularly clear how the protection concepts work in schools.

Medical President Klaus Reinhardt spoke out against closing entire schools in the event of individual corona infections. "If a corona case occurs in a school, the school does not have to be closed for 14 days," he told the "Rheinische Post" (Wednesday). It is enough if individual classes or courses stay at home. The prerequisite is that the students only come together in these groups.

The protective measures of the federal and state governments against the corona virus continue to find support among the citizens. Only one in ten thinks it is superfluous, according to a survey by the YouGov institute on behalf of the German Press Agency. For this purpose, people were surveyed online between August 7 and 10, 2018. 68 percent of those questioned consider the regulations "absolutely necessary".

Three percent of those surveyed consider protective measures to be superfluous because they believe the virus is "not that dangerous". Seven percent also see warnings and protective measures as an "attempt by powerful circles to achieve other goals". Another 16 percent are in favor of protective measures, but consider the currently prescribed regulations to be excessive. As in previous surveys, the Federal Government's crisis management met with high approval.

Since the beginning of the Corona crisis, at least 218,519 people in Germany have been proven to have been infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus, as reported by the RKI (data as of August 12, 12.00 a.m.). Since the previous day, 6 new deaths in connection with a corona infection have been reported, the total number is now 9207. By Sunday morning, 198,800 people had survived the infection according to RKI estimates.

The number of reproductions, or R-value for short, was 0.97 in Germany (previous day: 1.09) according to RKI estimates with data as of August 11th, midnight. This means that an infected person infects another person on average. The R-value depicts the infection rate about one and a half weeks beforehand.

In addition, the RKI gives a so-called seven-day R. It refers to a longer period of time and is therefore less subject to daily fluctuations. According to RKI estimates, this value was 1.04 (previous day: 1.05) as of August 11, 12.00 a.m. It shows the infection process from 8 to 16 days ago.

The current increase in the number of infections is no longer mainly due to individual hot spots - unlike in mid-June, when, for example, there was a large corona outbreak at the Tönnies slaughterhouse in North Rhine-Westphalia.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200812-99-135591 / 3

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