As of: 12/29/2021 4:47 a.m.
According to the RKI, the seven-day incidence drops to 205.5 – but due to the holidays, the data are still inaccurate. Health Minister Lauterbach wants to provide clarity as quickly as possible – especially because of Omikron.
The health authorities in Germany reported 40,043 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) within 24 hours. That is 5616 fewer cases than on Wednesday a week ago when 45,659 positive tests were reported.
The nationwide seven-day incidence drops to 205.5 from 215.6 the previous day. The value indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants have been infected with the corona virus in the past seven days.
414 other people died related to the virus. This increases the number of reported deaths within one day to 111,219. In total, more than seven million corona tests have so far been positive in Germany.
The RKI points out that fewer tests are carried out during the holidays and at the turn of the year and therefore fewer cases are likely to be reported.
Lauterbach: The situation is difficult to assess
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) currently sees the assessment of the pandemic situation in Germany being made more difficult by these imprecise data. Especially the dynamics of the new Coronavirus variant Omikron are “not shown correctly in the official figures because of the test failures and reporting delays,” said Lauterbach of the “Bild”. “I am currently getting an overall picture of the situation with the RKI and numerous data sources from all over Germany.” According to the newspaper, Lauterbach wants to get the health authorities to quickly ramp up the capacities for tests and contact follow-up.
Most recently, the number of reliably proven and probable Omikron cases in Germany transmitted to the RKI within one day rose sharply – on Tuesday, according to the RKI, by 45 percent compared to the previous day. For the current week, the institute expects a “high number of new and late registrations”. In Germany, only a small part of the positive test samples are examined for variants. In many European countries, the number of infections has skyrocketed in the past few days due to the highly contagious Omicron variant.