Omicron wave picks up speed: Incidence in Germany rises to a new high

Created: 2022-01-25 07:22

By: Martina Lippl

Corona: PCR tests in Germany are becoming scarce.

© Frank Hoermann / imago

The incidence in Germany has reached a new record.

The RKI reports over 100,000 new corona infections.

The news ticker for the corona pandemic in Germany.

• The corona numbers are reaching new records.

• PCR tests are becoming scarce.

  Lauterbach defends new test strategy.

• This news ticker about Corona in Germany is updated regularly.

Berlin - The omicron wave in Germany is picking up speed.

The 7-day incidence on Tuesday morning was 894.3, which is a new high (previous day: 840.3).

In the past 24 hours, 126,955 new corona infections and 214 further deaths have been recorded at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

This emerges from the data of the Covid 19 dashboard of the RKI.

Experts assume that the number of unreported cases of corona is large.

The test capacities in Germany are increasingly reaching their limit and the health authorities can hardly keep up with their work.

The incidence* is already above the 1,000 mark in five federal states: Berlin (1,593.5), Hamburg (1,547.4), Bremen (1,496.3), Brandenburg (1,194.8) and Hesse (1,025.4).

The value is lowest in Thuringia with 310.8.

Corona case numbers in Germany (as of January 25, 2022)

• The 7-day incidence in Germany is currently 894.3.

• According to the RKI, 126,955 new corona infections and 214 other deaths have been recorded in the past 24 hours.

• According to the RKI, there are currently around 1,423,700 active corona cases.

• According to the DIVI intensive care register, 2,404 Covid 19 patients have to be treated in an intensive care unit.

  1,379 of them are artificially ventilated.

Corona in Germany: PCR tests are becoming scarce

PCR tests are still considered the "gold standard" for detecting a corona infection.

But the laboratory capacities are becoming scarce in view of the exploding number of infections.

The test strategy should therefore be adjusted.

There should be a prioritization for PCR tests.

In the future, they will primarily be used for people from corona risk groups and employees who care for and treat them.

According to the currently applicable test regulation, for example, anyone with a positive rapid test is still entitled to a post-PCR test.

Lauterbach defends new test strategy

Certified rapid antigen tests should be sufficient for free testing from contact person quarantine or infected isolation, but they are considered less reliable.

Are rapid tests sufficiently reliable?

Lauterbach said on Monday evening in the ARD: "If two antigen tests are positive in a row, then that's almost as safe as a PCR test." It only happens "very rarely" that they deliver a wrong result.