Lauterbach gives a corona summer forecast - RKI sees continued high infection pressure

Created: 04/22/2022, 04:49 am

By: Martina Lippl, Kai Hartwig, Christoph Gschoßmann

The corona incidence is picking up again.

The RKI reports almost 190,000 new infections.

But the number of unreported cases is immense, experts warn.

The news ticker for the corona pandemic in Germany.

• Diffuse data: the head of the Medical Association names factors for the number of unreported cases.

• Corona incidence

  continues to rise: According to the RKI, the value is now

  720.6.

• Booster vaccination: Lower Saxony allows the fourth vaccination.

• Health Minister Lauterbach expects a relaxed summer.

• This

   news ticker

   on the 

  Corona*

  pandemic in Germany

   is updated regularly.

Update, April 21, 9:17 p.m .:

The trends are declining for several corona indicators.

Nevertheless, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) still sees a high infection pressure.

According to the RKI weekly report on Thursday evening, over 750,000 Covid 19 cases were reported in the past calendar week.

The nationwide seven-day incidence has fallen by almost a quarter in a weekly comparison.

Metrics on hospital admissions and facility outbreaks were also down.

At the same time, however, it was also shown that fewer and fewer PCR tests were being carried out in the more than 200 laboratories in Germany.

These are the basis for the official corona statistics.

In March, the number of PCR tests was still well over two million per week.

In the week before Easter there were only around 1.1 million, also due to the Good Friday holiday.

According to the weekly report, more than every second (around 55 percent) of the PCR tests carried out was positive.

This roughly corresponds to the percentage figures in March.

Corona in Germany: Health Minister Lauterbach expects a relaxed summer

Update, April 21, 4:14 p.m .:

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach expects the corona situation to relax in the summer.

However, he still sees no reason to give the all-clear.

"The pandemic will decrease seasonally," said the SPD politician on Thursday as a speaker at the "Ludwig-Erhard Summit" conference in Gmund am Tegernsee.

There will be a low number of cases, but not a situation like last year that the summer was “almost corona-free”.

The current Omikron variant is too contagious for that, even in good weather.

The summer must be used to prepare for the fall.

Lauterbach also confirmed that the number of new infections is currently underestimated.

In fact, there are probably twice as many cases as are officially reported.

New studies also suggested an underestimate of reported death rates in developed countries.

These could be higher by a factor of 1.8 or 1.9.

If this were really in this dimension, one would have to assume that well over 200,000 people could have died of Covid-19 in Germany in the past two years.

Lauterbach expects new waves of infection to be expected in the fall.

New virus variants are also coming at ever shorter intervals.

He referred to a sub-variant circulating in the United States that is spreading much faster than the BA2 variant that is dominant in this country.

General practitioners in Baden-Württemberg are at their breaking point despite falling corona numbers

Update, April 21, 11:12 a.m .:

Despite the falling corona numbers, the general practitioners in Baden-Württemberg are still at the limit of their load, according to their association.

The Baden-Württemberg Association of General Practitioners informed the SWR that the workload was still very high.

"Contrary to public perception, the main burden of corona care lies in the practices that have treated 90 percent of those suffering from Covid," said association spokesman Felix Bareiß.

"The practices are the protective wall of the German health system."

In addition to the continued high number of new infections, the telephone consultation and the tests also take a lot of time, as it was said on Thursday.

"The practice teams work at the edge of their stress limits and often at the expense of their health," said Bareiß.

The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Baden-Württemberg (KVBW), which is responsible for all registered doctors and psychotherapists, sees the mass of obligations.

Doctors' practices reported that there was still considerable effort in the infection consultation hour, in addition to the greater hygiene effort and the increased need for the treatment of refugees from Ukraine.

The situation in some regions is exacerbated by the Easter holidays, during which some practices are closed and the workload at the agencies is increasing.

Corona incidence in Germany is increasing again - experts expect "unreported figures times two" and give reasons

Update, April 21, 7.46 a.m .:

How meaningful are the corona numbers?

The so-called “Osterdelle” made headlines last year.

Germany is poking around in the fog, according to criticism.

Also this year, after the Easter holidays, the Corona numbers are incomplete.

The values ​​should be interpreted with caution, experts warn.

"We expect an unreported number times two in terms of the reported corona cases," said the chairman of the Federal Association of Physicians in the Public Health Service, Johannes Nießen, to the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND).

Diffuse data on the Corona numbers is not only due to the Easter holidays

Accordingly, there are several reasons for the high number of unregistered infections.

For example, not all rapid tests would be retested with a PCR test, "because that has no consequences for many vaccinated victims," ​​explained Nießen.

“We are also observing a more relaxed approach to corona, not everyone with cold symptoms can be tested for corona, hardly any vaccinated people are tested and 3G only applies in a few areas.

This means that the dark field is getting bigger," said Nießen.

Corona in Germany: Incidence is increasing again

Update, April 21, 6:05

a.m .: The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports

within 24 hours.

That is 20,957 more cases than on Thursday a week ago.

The

(previous day: 688.3).

This emerges from the data from the Covid dashboard on Thursday morning.

In addition, 324 deaths related to Sars-CoV-2 were recorded within one day.

However, due to the public holidays and Easter holidays, there may still be late registrations.

The corona numbers are therefore currently incomplete, and a comparison of the daily values ​​is becoming increasingly difficult.

The RKI last gave the hospitalization incidence on Wednesday at 3.71 (Tuesday: 3.48).

Here, too, there are days with incomplete reports.

The value also includes many people with a positive corona test who have another main illness.

1,703 Covid patients are currently being treated in the intensive care units in Germany.

Of these, 696 must be artificially ventilated.

This emerges from the data of the DIVI intensive care register (as of April 21, 5:05 a.m.).

A symbol on the intensive care unit of a clinic indicates the Covid area.

© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa/symbol image

“The COVID new admissions to the intensive care units continue to decline, as does the occupancy.

About 60 percent of patients need oxygen therapy, ventilation and a few ECMO," tweeted intensive care physician Christian Karagiannidis.

"Hardly any more pregnant women.

It's getting quieter in everyday hospital life."

It is good news in these times, writes Karagiannidis.

Regionally, however, there could still be heavy burdens, he admits.

"The lack of staff is still the No. 1 issue," says the intensive care physician.

Corona virus in Germany: RKI reports 198,583 new infections (April 21, 2022)

Update, April 20, 8:41 p.m .:

The booster against the corona virus should be even more effective: According to a new study, Moderna’s combination booster should protect against omicron better than the previous booster vaccination.

Lower Saxony enables fourth vaccination

Update, April 20, 6:41 p.m .: Will

many Germans soon be vaccinated four times?

At least one federal state wants to make this possible for its residents: From the beginning of autumn, corona vaccinations are to be offered nationwide for everyone in Lower Saxony.

This was announced by the deputy head of the state government’s Corona crisis management team, Claudia Schröder, on Wednesday in Hanover.

The third vaccination was more than six months ago for most of them from autumn.

The aim of the fourth vaccination is to reduce the risk of infection again before winter.

The infrastructure with vaccinating doctors and mobile vaccination teams will therefore continue to be maintained.

New forms of antisemitism during the corona pandemic

Update from April 20, 5:26 p.m .:

According to the findings of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, new forms of anti-Semitism have emerged in the corona pandemic.

The situation report speaks of “coded anti-Semitism that embeds the pandemic in an ideological conspiracy argument”.

It is "frightening that anti-Semitic narratives can sometimes be connected to the middle of German society," said Thomas Haldenwang, President of the Authority, on the occasion of the situation report on anti-Semitism presented on Wednesday. 

It is about "a secret, world-controlling power using the pandemic as an instrument to implement its plan for a 'New World Order'".

The so-called QAnon conspiracy complex, which has a decidedly anti-Semitic core in parts, is known for this.

Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) declared that it was "a shame for our country how much anti-Semitic hate speech and contempt for human beings are still being spread today".

It was "shameful how the genocide of European Jews was downplayed by some corona deniers who attach a yellow star to themselves".

Hospitalization incidence in Germany at 3.71

Update from April 20, 12:21 p.m

.: The hospitalization incidence in Germany is currently 3.71.

The RKI announced this in its situation report on Wednesday.

On Tuesday the value was still 3.48.

However, the RKI estimates the actual incidence of hospitalization due to delayed reports to be significantly higher.

Mask requirement and 3G: Virologist Streeck currently sees little influence on the course of the corona pandemic

Update from April 20, 10:47 a.m

.: The omicron wave is ebbing away.

The RKI determined before Easter that the zenith has long been passed.

According to experts, the obligation to wear masks and 3G no longer have much of an impact on what is happening in the pandemic.

Seasonality has the greatest effect on “the spread of the virus,” says virologist Hendrik Streeck of the

newspaper.

"These include warmer temperatures, more UV radiation and the behavior of people who are drawn outside at the beginning of spring.

We are currently seeing that.”

Streeck is skeptical about the effectiveness of the corona measures.

Data would suggest that more than two out of three infections occur in private and few would use a mask there.

There are hardly any differences between the declared hotspots and the other federal states.

"Everywhere in Germany, the incidence of infection is declining at high speed."

Corona in Germany: Virologist Stöhr explains decline - "Virus finds less susceptible hosts"

Virologist Klaus Stöhr says in the

: "The effect of corona measures is drastically overestimated." The incidence of infection is currently declining sharply across Germany, "because many people became infected and thus got natural immunity.

The virus is simply less likely to find susceptible hosts.”

For the head of statutory health insurance physicians, Andreas Gassen, the falling corona numbers are also proof that the end of the measures will not have any negative consequences.

"Most of the people are able to act on their own responsibility."

Corona numbers are rising again!

RKI reports higher values ​​than in the previous week - incidence descent stopped

First report from April 20, 2022:

Berlin – The nationwide incidence has risen to 688.3 compared to the previous day (previous day: 669.9).

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) recorded 198,583 new corona infections and 348 deaths within one day.

That emerges from data from the Covid-19 dashboard on Wednesday morning.

According to experts, the actual corona numbers are likely to be much higher.

Because of the Easter holidays, there may also be an “increased under-recording” of cases in the reporting system, the RKI reports on its website.

This should be taken into account when interpreting the case numbers.

Incidentally, a week ago 176,303 new infections and 361 deaths were recorded.

Corona virus in Germany: RKI reports 198,583 new infections (April 20, 2022)

Corona incidence: hospitalization rate at 3.48

The RKI gave the number of Corona*-infected patients per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days on Tuesday as 3.48 (Thursday: 6.41).

Here, too, there are days with incomplete reports; this so-called hospitalization incidence is not updated on weekends and public holidays.

The value also includes many people with a positive corona test who have another main illness.

Corona: So many intensive care beds are occupied

1,769 Covid-19 patients are currently being treated in the intensive care units in Germany.

Of these, 691 must be artificially ventilated.

This emerges from the data of the DIVI intensive care register (as of April 20, 5:05 a.m.).

Here you can read the news ticker for the corona virus until April 19.