Omikron's share in Germany is growing rapidly - even Sweden is now tightening its corona measures

Created: 01/11/2022 05:13 AM

From: Bettina Menzel, Franziska Schwarz

A man with a mask in downtown Stockholm.

Sweden announced new measures on Monday (January 10, 2022) in view of the Omikron variant of the corona virus (archive image).

© picture alliance / dpa / XinHua |

Wei Xuechao

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) provides new figures on the prevalence of Omikron in Germany.

China experiences “first battle” against virus.

The news ticker.

• The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) * is monitoring the spread of the Corona * variant * in this country.

  (see first report)

• In China, too, there is now the first omicron outbreak.

  (see update from January 10th, 3:30 p.m.)

• In Israel and Sweden, Omikron sets new record values ​​every day.

  (see update from January 10, 4:20 p.m. and 6:19 p.m.)

• This news ticker for Omikron in Germany * and worldwide is continuously updated.

Update from January 10, 6:19 p.m.:

Omikron cases are also increasing in Sweden *. For this reason, the country is now tightening the corona measures. The government announced on Monday that bars and restaurants will have to close at 11 p.m. from next Wednesday. Events in closed rooms are capped at 500 participants, from 50 participants a vaccination certificate is required. This applies to public events. A maximum of 20 people are allowed to meet at private parties or gatherings. "We are currently in a situation with record levels of transmissions," said Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson as the reason for the new measures.

Just like in other countries - such as Israel - Sweden has repeatedly recorded new highs in the number of corona cases in the past few days.

Experts attribute this to the Omikron variant.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been neither school closings nor lockdowns in Sweden, there was talk of the Swedish “Sonderweg”.

The statistics show that the 15,300 corona deaths to date based on the population of 10.3 million people in Sweden correspond to the European average.

Compared to neighboring countries such as Norway *, Finland * and Denmark *, which were more restrictive during the corona pandemic, the death rate in Sweden is significantly higher.

Corona case numbers in Israel reach new highs

Update from January 10, 4:20 p.m.:

In Israel, the Corona infection numbers from Omikron climb to new highs every day. The Ministry of Health reported 21,501 new cases on Monday for the previous day. Last autumn, during the fourth corona wave, the peak was more than 11,000 cases per day.

However, the actual number of infections is currently likely to be significantly higher.

Because Israel relaxed the test requirement last week: Only risk groups and people over 60 years of age have to do a PCR test after coming into contact with a person infected with corona.

A rapid antigen test is sufficient for everyone else.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Sunday that two to four million Israelis would become infected with the corona virus in this wave of infections.

According to the ministry, only around 61 percent of the 9.4 million Israelis are fully vaccinated.

Around 320,000 people have already received the fourth corona vaccination.

Omikron: First outbreak in China - Beijing sets up checkpoints

Update from January 10th, 3:30 p.m.:

After the first local Omikron outbreak in China, further infections have been discovered.

The number of cases in Beijing's neighboring city of Tianjin rose from 20 to 40, while two infections were also discovered in central China, the state media reported on Monday.

The discovery of local Omicron infections almost four weeks before the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing and before the travel season for the Chinese New Year celebrations at the end of January alarmed the authorities.

Health authorities expected further infections.

The highly contagious variant is likely to put China's strict zero-Covid strategy to the test with mass tests, curfews, quarantine and isolation.

In the state media, epidemiologists speak of the "first real battle" against Omikron in China.

In the affected Tianjin, all 15 million residents have been tested since Sunday.

Residents were urged not to leave the city without good reason.

They also have to prove a negative PCR test within 48 hours.

The estimated 100,000 commuters who work in Beijing, 100 kilometers away, have been asked to work from home.

The capital set up checkpoints to control access.

Omikron: Share in Germany is growing rapidly

First report from January 10th:

Berlin - Within one day the detected Omikron cases in Germany increased by six percent (+ 5162).

The Robert Koch Institute assigns a total of 89,464 infections to the new Corona variant in its current overview.

The authority has kept the register since calendar week 46.

For the first calendar week of the new year, the RKI expects a "high" number of late registrations.

So far, most cases have occurred among 15 to 34-year-olds with 41,320, followed by 35 to 59-year-olds with 29,645.

There were 8,266 cases among the 5 to 14 year olds and 6,860 in the 60 to 79 age group.

Omikron in the individual federal states: the top 3

The RKI also breaks down the Omikron distribution regionally.

So far, most infections have been recorded in North Rhine-Westphalia (1949), Bavaria (1582) and Baden-Württemberg (1166).

But these are only the confirmed cases.

If you add the suspected cases, the numbers in the three federal states are significantly higher: 26,224, 20,390 and 12,239 respectively.

You will find the tables behind this link.

The RKI regards a case as confirmed if the omicron is recognized by means of whole genome sequencing or a variant-specific PCR test.

3D computer graphics of coronavirus under the microscope.

© Tomasz Mikielewicz / Imago

Omikron: Lauterbach indicates a “special” problem

Since the discovery of the highly contagious Omicron variant in November, many countries have reported record numbers of infections.

However, this has not yet led to a corresponding increase in deaths.

This seems to confirm the findings from studies, according to which Omikron is more contagious than the previous variants, but the course of the disease is less severe.

The countries with the world's highest infection rates per 100,000 inhabitants are all in Europe: at the top Cyprus with a seven-day incidence of 3468, followed by Ireland (2840), Greece (2415), Montenegro (2371), Denmark (2362 ) and France (2137).

In Great Britain, Omikron is already the predominant variant.

In the country, there has already been an overload of the clinics - because many clinic staff were absent due to a corona infection and subsequent isolation.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach retweeted a chart on Monday with the latest figures from Great Britain and warned against transferring the data on the “immunity wall” to Germany: “We have a special problem with older people who have not been vaccinated.” On the other hand, there are the Few of those over 65 who have not yet been vaccinated.