Coronavirus live ticker Seven-day incidence rate rises to new high of 840.3
Bonn · The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has once again reported a significant increase in the nationwide seven-day incidence rate, which has reached a new high.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, ncidence rate on Monday has risen to 840.3, up from 806.8 the previous day. Health offices in Germany reported 63,393 new Coronavirus infections to the RKI within one day. Only a week ago, there were 34,145 new infections. Across Germany, 28 deaths were recorded within 24 hours, according to the new data. This compares to 30 deaths one week ago. The RKI has recorded 8,744,840 confirmed infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, but that number is likely higher because many infections go undetected.
Meanwhile, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has defended the decision to shorten the length of time that counts as “recently recovered” from Coronavirus from six to three months without introducing a transitional period.
"I cannot now say that there will be a transition if that is medically untenable," the SPD politician said on Sunday evening in the ZDF programme "Berlin Direkt". With the now prevalent Omicron variant, people who have recovered from Coronavirus may lose their immunity to the disease after three months, after which time they could become reinfected.
"If you want things to be safe and if you want to control the number of cases and make sure there is increased protection for the vulnerable, then you have to act quickly."
Lauterbach in favour of gradual lifting of restrictions after Omicron wave has passed
The SPD politician is in favour of continuing along a cautious course. "We will stick to that," he said, pointing out that unlike other countries that are loosening restrictions, Germany has the second oldest population in Europe. He said he expected the wave to peak in mid-February, with several hundred thousand people newly infected every day. But: "When we have that behind us, then of course the restrictions can’t stay as they are. And then, step by step, we would open up again. It’s important to think of that right now.”
He believes that there will be more variants because there are still too many people worldwide who could become infected. This could lead to virus combinations. He fears that "we’ll be facing problems again next autumn.” (Translation: Jean Lennox)
