Coronavirus pandemic: RKI warns of a rapid increase in the number of cases

Status: 10/22/2021 2:11 a.m.

Is the fourth corona wave only really beginning now? In its weekly report, the RKI warns of a rapidly increasing number of cases in the coming weeks. Intensive care physicians are also sounding the alarm.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the number of corona cases in Germany could grow dynamically in the coming period. “It is to be expected that the rise in the number of cases will accelerate in the further course of autumn and winter,” writes the institute in its new weekly report on the pandemic.

Even intensive care physicians are sounding the alarm because many intensive care beds could no longer be operated due to a lack of nursing staff. The German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi) announced in the evening that “a noticeable reduction in care for the population can be expected” in the coming period.

“The actual 4th wave has now begun”

Currently, 22,207 intensive care beds are reported as operable, at the beginning of the year there were 26,475. The past few months have led to a deterioration in mood and further dismissals of regular nurses, according to the Divi. “A foreseeable heavy autumn and winter wave” with many Covid-19 patients, but also those with other respiratory infections such as flu, could bring intensive medicine in Germany “again to and beyond its limits”, Stefan Kluge, director of the Clinic for Intensive Care Medicine, was quoted as saying at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

“The actual 4th wave has now begun and continues to pick up speed,” wrote Divi expert Christian Karagiannidis on Twitter. There is still a very close correlation between incidence and new admissions to intensive care units. According to the Divi intensive care register, the number of Covid 19 patients there has now risen to around 1540 (as of Thursday).

RKI: More vaccination breakthroughs “expected”

According to the RKI report, more and more outbreaks have become known in medical facilities and in old people’s and nursing homes. For the first time since the week of May 3rd to 9th, the seven-day incidence in people over 90 increased last week to over 50. With hygiene measures and increasing vaccination coverage, such outbreaks have decreased significantly, but they continue to occur and also affect vaccinated people, it said. Very old people are particularly at risk of suffering severe and fatal courses in the event of a corona infection.

In general, the RKI writes that it is “expected” that more vaccination breakthroughs will be recorded over time, diseases in fully vaccinated people with corona detection by a PCR test. This is due to the fact that more and more people are vaccinated and the virus is currently getting back “This increases the likelihood of coming into contact with the virus as a fully vaccinated person.” According to the RKI, serious disease courses are very rare among vaccinated people.

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