Corona virus in Germany: seven-day incidence falls again – to 1371.7

Enlarge image

PCR tests in Ingelheim (symbol image)

Photo: KAI PFAFFENBACH / REUTERS

The

in Germany has fallen again.

nationwide on Friday morning

.

For comparison: On Thursday it was 1385.1, on Friday last week it was 1472.2.

The incidence quantifies the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants over a period of seven days.

As the RKI announced, citing data from the health authorities, the number of

within 24 hours on Friday morning was

– after 235,626 on Thursday and 240,172 on Friday last week.

As the RKI further announced,

related to the corona virus were also recorded on Friday.

However, the numbers are of limited value at the moment.

Experts assume that there are many cases that are not recorded in the RKI data.

Test capacities and health authorities are therefore at the limit in many places, and contacts are only tracked to a limited extent.

In addition, the number of people who no longer have their infection confirmed by a PCR test is likely to increase – the infection is therefore not included in the official statistics.

According to the RKI, the health authorities have recorded a total of 13,255,989 cases of infection since the beginning of the pandemic.

The total number of registered corona fatalities in Germany is now 120,992.

The RKI puts the number of people who have recovered from corona disease in Germany at around 9,484,400.

In November, the federal and state governments had defined the so-called hospitalization incidence as the decisive benchmark for tightening or relaxing the corona measures.

This value indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants are in the hospital within seven days because of a corona infection.

According to the latest RKI report, the

on Thursday was

nationwide .

A week ago it was 6.23.

According to the RKI, omicron subtype BA.2 continues to increase

According to the RKI, the BA.2 variant from Omikron, which can be transferred even more quickly according to initial findings, has increased noticeably in Germany.

The proportion of corona cases examined in a sample has recently risen to 14.9 percent, the institute stated in its weekly report on Thursday evening.

This information refers to the week up to February 6th – for the week before, the RKI gives the share as 10.4 percent.

There is not yet enough data to be able to assess the characteristics of the subtype with regard to the severity of the disease more precisely.

However, due to the progressive spread and easier transferability of BA.2, "a slower decrease or a renewed increase in the number of cases cannot be ruled out," it said.

The planned relaxation of the corona measures and an associated increase in contacts could therefore also contribute to such a development.

Experts have recently increasingly pointed to BA.2 as a possible uncertainty factor.

In countries like Denmark, the subtype has already spread rapidly.

This is therefore also possible in Germany and, according to many, could ensure that the omicron wave is extended.

aar/AFP