Status: 05.06.2021 10:26 a.m.
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According to the Robert Koch Institute, the corona incidence in Germany has fallen to 26.3. A week ago it was 37.5. However, medical professionals warn of the dangers of the Delta variant of the virus.
The health authorities in Germany reported 2,294 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) within one day. A week ago the value was 5426 infections. The seven-day incidence, i.e. the number of new infections within seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, was given by the RKI as 26.3 (previous day: 29.7; previous week: 37.5).
However, the RKI pointed out that Thursday was a public holiday in many federal states: “When interpreting the number of cases, it should be noted that fewer people visit a doctor on public holidays, which means that fewer samples are taken and fewer laboratory tests are carried out,” it said in a management report. This leads to less pathogen evidence being reported to the responsible health authorities.
Of all the federal states, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania currently has the lowest seven-day incidence at 9.4. This is followed by Schleswig-Holstein with 13.6 and Brandenburg with 14.1. Of the city-states, Hamburg comes off best with 17.8. The highest seven-day incidence is found in Saarland (31.5), which is just ahead of Baden-Württemberg (31.4). The only district in Germany with an incidence value over 100 is Hildburghausen in Thuringia (110.8).
Worry about delta variant of the virus
Meanwhile, intensive care physicians expect that the delta variant of the coronavirus, which was initially discovered in India, will prevail in Germany. “The great uncertainty factor is the new mutation B.1.617.2, which is said to be even more contagious than the currently dominant variant B.1.1.7,” said the President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), Gernot Marx , the “Rheinische Post”. If people were careless, the number of infections could skyrocket again. “Then a fourth wave is possible,” warned Marx.
The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach admitted in the newspaper that the Delta variant is much more dangerous. The good news, however, is that it has so far made up less than two percent of infections in Germany. “If we prevent super-spreading, we are on the safe side with this variant,” said Lauterbach.
The virologist is critical of certain relaxations
In this context, the virologist Melanie Brinkmann expressed concern about large gatherings of people in closed rooms, for example in fitness studios, during indoor sports or in indoor catering. “I feel very different,” she told the “Rheinische Post”. When asked whether a fourth wave would come this summer, she replied: “If things are going really bad, then yes.”
Brinkmann also gave the impression that Germany was already on the safe side when it came to vaccinating. She is also skeptical whether the government’s promise to offer all citizens a vaccination by the end of the summer can be kept. She believes that seven-day incidences of 100 new infections per 100,000 people are possible. “I’m afraid that can happen very quickly, even in summer.”
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