The omicron variant of the corona virus is causing negative records for new infections throughout Europe. Hundreds of thousands of new cases a day are no longer uncommon. In terms of incidence, the Faroe Islands, San Marino and Denmark are in the worst position: for the archipelago noted “Statista” 6463 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, for the mini-state 4643 and for our northern neighbors 3462. Germany is clearly in the bottom half of the list with a seven-day incidence of 638.7.
Nevertheless, according to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) in mid-February, Germany will probably be confronted with several hundred thousand newly infected people per day. On Thursday, the Robert Koch Institute already counted over 133,000 new infections. Lauterbach expects a new endurance test for the hospitals in mid-February or at the end of February. On Monday, the federal and state governments want to discuss further protective measures at top level. Lauterbach’s Ministry of Health drew strong criticism from the Union – the accusation: Recent changes in the recovered status and in the vaccination status of people with the initial vaccination of the Johnson & Johnson preparation had not been clearly communicated.
Lauterbach said on Wednesday evening in the ZDF program “Markus Lanz” that scenarios with a rapid increase in the number of cases “have the greatest probability”. Other countries could cope with such high numbers. “Since we have a high number of unvaccinated among the elderly in Germany, things can turn out very differently here than in Italy, France or England, for example.”
The numbers in Germany continue to skyrocket. The seven-day incidence rose above 600 for the first time on Thursday – the value was 638.8 registered new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week. Lauterbach had said that the number of unreported cases was about a factor of two.
Sources:“Johns Hopkins University Corona Map”, “Statista” on incidences in Europe.