Corona: RKI reports new high level of infections - Lauterbach sees new vaccination target already in danger

Created: 01/13/2022, 10:06 AM

By: Patrick Huljina

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD).

© Hannibal Hanschke / Reuters / Pool / dpa

The RKI reported more than 81,000 new corona infections in Germany on Thursday morning.

The future of the Luca app is open.

The news ticker.

• The RKI reports a new Corona * record for Germany

  (see update from January 13th, 6.30 a.m.).

• The Luca app is being put to the test.

  One state has already made a decision

  (see updates from January 13, 6:30 a.m. and January 12, 5:05 p.m.)

  .

• The president of the patient protection group calls for the possibility of a fourth corona vaccination.

  (see update from January 12th, 2:04 p.m.)

• This news ticker is updated regularly.

Update from January 13, 9:40

a.m.: According to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, the federal government's corona vaccination target by the end of January is in great danger.

The SPD politician told the news portal

"It will be very difficult, that is clear." According to the plans of the traffic light coalition, 80 percent of people in Germany should be vaccinated at least once by the end of January.

By Wednesday morning, 74.8 percent - or 62.2 million people - had received at least one dose of vaccine.

Lauterbach said there was a drop in vaccinations over the holidays.

“So you have to push it again.

But it's not worth complaining about, ”said the minister.

“We have to work at high pressure.” On Tuesday, more than 710,000 vaccine doses were administered in Germany, including 48,500 first vaccinations.

There were more than 520,000 vaccinations on Monday, including 34,700 primary vaccinations.

Corona in Germany: RKI publishes another corona peak

Update from January 13th, 6.30 a.m.:

 The number of new corona infections transmitted to the Robert Koch Institute within one day has again reached a high. According to the RKI, the health authorities reported 81,417 cases in 24 hours on Thursday morning. This is evident from the numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5 a.m. On Wednesday, the number had exceeded the threshold of 80,000 for the first time. Exactly one week ago there were 64,340 new infections recorded, with gaps in tests and reports over the course of the holidays. The RKI gave the seven-day incidence as 427.7. For comparison: the previous day the value was 407.5. A week ago the nationwide incidence was 285.9 (previous month: 389.2).

According to the new information, 316 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 443 deaths. The RKI has counted 7,743,228 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections are not recognized. The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was given by the RKI on Wednesday as 3.13 (Tuesday with 3.34). The RKI stated the number of those who had recovered on Thursday morning at 6,878,100. The number of people who died with or with a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 115,051.

Corona in Germany: Luca app contracts are checked - data protectionists worried

The future of the Luca app for tracking contacts in the corona pandemic is still open in almost all federal states with a Luca license. While in Schleswig-Holstein it has already been decided to terminate the contract with the private operator, twelve countries are only examining this, as a survey by the German press agency showed. Three states do not have a contract: North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony and Thuringia, but individual health authorities also use the app there.

The Luca app is intended to help restaurant owners and event organizers to do the legally required recording of visitor contacts in most federal states without a mess of paper. It can be connected directly to the health authorities. Vaccination certificates can also be deposited. The federal government's corona warning app informs citizens anonymously about a possible risk of infection. Data protectionists see risks in the central storage of data at Luca, the manufacturers refer to protection through encryption technology. The app is used differently by health authorities. The German District Association assesses Luca positively. "The Luca system can relieve the health authorities and should therefore continue to be used," said a spokeswoman.

“No reason to hold on to Luca”: Schleswig-Holstein is the first federal state to terminate a contract with App

Update from January 12th, 5:05 p.m.:

According to a report by the

, Schleswig-Holstein was the first federal state to terminate the contract with the company behind the Luca app.

Since the state has lifted the obligation to collect contact data and a reintroduction is not in sight, there is “no reason to hold on to Luca,” said the manager of the Schleswig-Holstein district council, Sönke Schulz, of the newspaper on Wednesday.

The Luca app is used to track contacts, so guests can log in to restaurants, for example.

Schulz said: "Until the obligation to collect contact data was lifted, the health authorities gave us positive feedback on the use of Luca." After that, however, the use of Luca was greatly reduced.

A spokeswoman for the Luca manufacturer Nexenio GmbH told the newspaper that the termination of Schleswig-Holstein will probably have no impact on the decisions of other federal states.

The system behind the Luca app is currently connected to the health authorities in 13 of 16 federal states for corona contact tracking.

The annual contracts expire in spring.

According to the report, the contracts will be extended for another year without notice.

Corona in Germany: Offer for the fourth corona vaccination required for everyone by summer

Update from January 12, 2:04 p.m.:

The board of the German Patient Protection Foundation, Eugen Brysch, is demanding an offer of a fourth corona vaccination for everyone by the summer.

"Everyone should have the opportunity to be able to take advantage of a fourth vaccination offer with the active ingredients currently available by the summer," he told the newspapers of the

.

It looks different with a vaccine adapted to new virus variants.

The Bundestag must have prioritized the distribution by June at the latest, said Brysch.

The elderly, those in need of care and the seriously ill should not be the losers here.

The intensive care doctor Christian Karagiannidis, on the other hand, advised against offering a fourth corona vaccination now.

"With a systematic fourth vaccination, we should wait until an adapted vaccine is available," said the member of the German government's Corona Expert Council.

Eugen Brysch, board member of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, calls for a fourth corona vaccination to be offered by the summer.

(Archive image) © Metodi Popow / IMAGO

Corona in Germany: Bremen is a hotspot among the federal states

Update from January 12, 10:42 a.m.:

In terms of incidences, there are currently significant differences between the federal states. Thuringia (277.6), Saxony (239.5) and Saxony-Anhalt (254.4) are currently doing comparatively well with values ​​below 300. In contrast, the city-states in particular are at the bottom of the list. The absolute hotspot is Bremen with an incidence of 1296.8. Berlin (856.4), Schleswig-Holstein (633.0) and Hamburg (568.9) follow. However, the number of infections is likely to rise rapidly with a time lag, even in the so far less affected federal states.

So far, the Omikron wave has not been reflected in the intensive care units.

The number of corona patients there has been falling continuously since mid-December, most recently to just under 3,200. For comparison: at the height of the second wave it was more than 5,700.

However, experts expect that as the number of infections increases significantly, so will the burden in the clinics.

Corona in Germany: RKI reports new record

First report from January 12th:

Berlin - In other countries it was already so far, now it is Germany's turn.

Omikron is causing the number of infections to rise rapidly.

On Wednesday morning (January 12), the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported a surge in the numbers and a new corona record in Germany.

The number of new infections transmitted within one day exceeded the 80,000 mark for the first time.

The health authorities reported a total of 80,430 new corona infections * within 24 hours.

Compared to Tuesday (January 11), the number has almost doubled (previous day: 45,690 new infections).

The previous record was 65,371 new cases on November 18, 2021.

Corona in Germany: Incidence rises to over 400

According to the RKI, the nationwide seven-day incidence * is 407.5.

For comparison: the previous day the value was 387.9.

A week ago the nationwide incidence was 258.6 (previous month: 390.9).

According to the new information, 384 deaths were recorded throughout Germany within one day.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the RKI has now counted a total of 7,661,811 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 in Germany.

The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections are not recognized.

The number of people who died of or involving a proven corona infection * rose to 114,735.

The RKI reported a new corona record on Wednesday.

(Archive image) © Kay Nietfeld / dpa

Corona in Germany: The federal government is organizing another five million Biontech cans

In order to counteract a further increase in the numbers, the Federal Ministry of Health has organized another five million doses of the corona vaccine from Biontech for the targeted acceleration of vaccinations in Germany.

They should be available from the week of January 24th, as the ministry said on Tuesday evening.

The cans are bought from an EU quota in Romania that currently does not need the vaccination doses.

In total, around 32 million Corona vaccine doses should be available in the three weeks of January 17, January 24 and January 31, as it was further said - twelve million from Biontech and 20 million from Moderna.

This means that, in the next three weeks, anyone who wants a booster vaccination will be able to get it.

The federal government had set the goal of achieving a total of another 30 million vaccinations by the end of January.