Status: 21.11.2021 7:01 a.m.
The seven-day incidence in Germany continues to rise and has again reached a high of 372.7. The Robert Koch Institute recorded 42,727 new corona infections – around 9,200 more than a week ago.
The nationwide seven-day incidence has again risen to a high. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Sunday morning as 372.7. For comparison: the previous day the value was 362.2, a week ago it was 289. A month ago it was 85.6.
42,727 new infections within 24 hours
The health authorities in Germany reported 42,727 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. Exactly one week ago there were 33,498 infections. According to the new information, 75 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 55 deaths. The RKI has counted 5,354,942 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections are not recognized.
The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was given by the RKI on Friday as 5.34 (Thursday: 5.30). With the indicator it must be taken into account that hospital admissions are sometimes reported with delay. The previous high was around 15.5 around Christmas time. The RKI stated the number of those who had recovered at 4,626,300. The number of people who died with or with a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 99,062.
Dahmen calls for preparation for patient transfers
In view of the sustained strong increase in corona infections, the Green health expert Janosch Dahmen is calling for comprehensive preparations for patient transfers to other clinics. This is “a coordinative effort” that should be controlled early and centrally, said the member of the Bundestag of the news agency dpa. “It is quite realistic that hundreds of patients will have to be transferred shortly.”
For this, an operative federal-state crisis team is finally needed, which should have been in place since the beginning of the pandemic. “As early as next week, numerous intensive care units will no longer be able to accept new patients,” warned Dahmen. In the south and east of the country, the supply capacities will not be sufficient for the foreseeable future. “Since we know that around 0.7 percent of all newly infected people will end up in the intensive care unit, we can already reliably predict the need for intensive care beds for the next ten days.” In overcrowded clinics, it must now be determined which patients are medically eligible for a transfer, said Dahmen. In addition, patient data would have to be transmitted to the receiving clinics.
Criticism of hospitalization rate
Dahmen also criticized that the hospitalization rate chosen by the federal and state governments was unsuitable as a central benchmark for the current crisis management. “This indicator does not permit early action, only late reaction.” In the chain of events after an infection, hospital admission is the last factor. In addition, it has been shown that the hospitalization rate had to be constantly corrected retrospectively due to late registrations. The current value is clearly too low and therefore very unreliable. The seven-day incidence and the availability and occupancy of intensive care beds continue to make the most sense as headline indicators.
The federal and state governments had agreed that if certain stress thresholds were exceeded in the clinics, uniformly tougher corona measures should take effect. The benchmark should be the hospitalization rate in the respective country.