The number of respiratory diseases in Germany remains at a very high level for this time of year. Acute respiratory diseases (ARE), including Covid-19, have fallen compared to the previous week, to 3900 per 100,000 inhabitants (the previous week it was 4200). However, the figure is still higher than in all previous seasons at this time of year since 2011, when the data was collected in this form. Converted to the population, this means that around 3.3 million people in Germany currently suffer from respiratory diseases. This is according to the current Weekly report of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) out.
Corona and rhinoviruses dominate respiratory diseases
The activity of the diseases appears to be weakening somewhat, according to the document, which refers to the period from July 29 to August 4. Rhinoviruses and the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 are currently clearly dominant, each accounting for around 19 percent of the samples examined. “The number of severe respiratory infections remains at a low level overall,” the RKI continues, but stresses that the summer holidays, which are running in some federal states, could have an impact on the activity of respiratory diseases.
Meanwhile, wastewater monitoring, which monitors the Covid-19 viral load, shows that the sublines KP.3 and KP3.1.1 continue to dominate. They each account for 33 percent. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Omikron sublines belonging to the so-called Flirt variants are considered to be very contagious, but they do not pose a great danger. The development of the general viral load has been stable for three weeks.
Corona in Bavaria: Incidence continues to rise slightly
This trend is also reflected in the Infection radar of the Federal Ministry of Health. According to this, the number of Covid-19 cases is almost constant. The 7-day incidence in Bavaria has increased slightly and is now at 5.7 corona cases per 100,000 inhabitants, for the whole of Germany it is 5.0. Hamburg currently has the highest value of 10.6 corona cases per 100,000 people (as of August 8, 2024).
According to data from the RKI, there were around 800 doctor visits per 100,000 inhabitants due to respiratory diseases in the 31st calendar week. For the entire German population, there were probably around 660,000 doctor visits. This means that the figure remains relatively stable.
WHO warns of Corona summer wave
The WHO is currently warning of a Covid summer wave, citing data from across Europe where the virus is on the rise. Only a few days ago, the organization in a communication emphatically reminds us that “although COVID-19 has been almost forgotten by millions of people, it has by no means disappeared.”
In the report, the WHO had drawn attention to the benefits of corona vaccinations and referred to a recent study by WHO/Europe, which was published in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine The result of the study: Corona vaccinations reduced the number of pandemic-related deaths by at least 59 percent between their introduction in December 2020 and March 2023, saving over 1.6 million lives in Europe. Most of those saved were in the group of people over 60 years of age, who are particularly at risk of severe disease. The WHO is now also appealing to risk groups to get vaccinated.
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