Monday, January 03, 2022
Few in the hospital so far
Omikron cases in Germany are increasing rapidly
Germany is firmly expecting the Omikron wave. The number of cases is still limited, but it is still increasing significantly. In the past four days alone it has almost doubled. The number of deaths and hospital admissions associated with Omikron has been low to date.
The Omikron variant is also gaining a foothold in Germany. In the meantime, 30,325 infections have been assigned to the variant, writes the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in its current edition Omicron report. Compared to the previous day, there are therefore another 3524 Omicron cases. In contrast to the last published report on December 30, the total number of cases recorded has almost doubled.
An omicron case is when the variant has been detected in an infected person by means of genome sequencing or special PCR tests – in the latter case this is referred to as a laboratory-based suspicion. It may take several days or weeks until the laboratory results are available after a positive test for Sars-CoV-2. So there are always late registrations.
Since the first proven Omikron cases in Germany in November, their number has consistently increased three to fourfold from week to week – with the exception of the previous week, for which the RKI is still expecting “many new and late registrations”. Even at the beginning of the first calendar week of 2022, there is already a clear increase. Whether the spread of the Omikron variant is already in the increasing incidence for days precipitates is still unclear.
In some federal states such as Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony, Omikron is now the dominant variant. The statistician Christian Hesse from the University of Stuttgart predicted that the Omikron mutant will establish itself nationwide within a few days, as he told the “Bild” newspaper. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach also expects that the Omikron variant will soon be predominant throughout Germany.
So far there have been six deaths in Germany after an Omicron infection. 314 infected people had to be treated in hospital, which is comparatively few. In Germany, younger people have mainly been affected so far, for whom the risk of a severe course is lower. Most Omikron cases were recorded in the 15- to 34-year-old age group (13,731). This is followed by the 35 to 59 year olds (10,157) and, at a considerable distance, the over 60 year olds (2902), for whom the risk of severe disease is highest.
Recently, however, there are increasing indications that the Omikron variant is increasing milder courses than their predecessors tends. Well-known virologists such as Christian Drosten had also come across in this regard Confidently shown. However, studies have observed mild progression, especially in those who have recovered and who have been boosted – it is possible that unvaccinated people can continue to get seriously ill with the Omicron variant.
The most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia has reported the majority of Omikron cases with almost 9,000 so far. There are correspondingly many reports from the equally populous federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. However, Schleswig-Holstein has the highest number of Omikron cases per inhabitant among the territorial states. The value is only higher in the city-state of Hamburg. The number of reported cases in the eastern federal states is noticeably low. According to the RKI weekly report, this may be due to the “different frequency of tests for the presence of worrying variants in the individual federal states as well as delays in the laboratory diagnostic recording and transmission”.