Germany registers a new record of coronavirus infections and more than 200 deaths in the middle of the fourth wave of the pandemic

Germany this Wednesday again registered new maximums of incidence and daily infections since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, with an insufficient vaccination rate to cope with the fourth wave.

German health authorities verified 39,676 new infections, the third record in less than a week, after the 37,120 notified last Friday and the 33,949 on Thursday, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) of virology updated last morning.

The previous daily maximum was recorded on December 18, in the middle of the second wave of the pandemic, when 33,777 new infections were reported.

The accumulated incidence in seven days marks its third consecutive record and stands at 232.1 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, after 213.7 yesterday and 201.1 on Monday, and against 146.6 a week ago.

The previous peak of incidence was registered on December 22, in the middle of the second wave of the pandemic, with 197.6 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants.

The death toll by or with covid-19 rose to 236, up from 194 a week ago.

According to the latest daily RKI report, 1,105 coronavirus hospitalizations were reported on Monday and a cumulative rate of admission in seven days of 4.31 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The maximum number of hospitalizations was registered in the days around last Christmas, with a cumulative rate of 15.5.

On Monday, the number of patients with covid-19 in the ucis was 2,616 -84 more in one day-, which corresponds to an occupation of 11.8% of beds available in critical care units for the adult population.

VACCINATION RATE, STAKED BELOW 70%

As of Monday, 69.7% of the German population had been vaccinated, 67.2% with the full regimen.

“Precisely in a fourth wave like this one, vaccination makes a difference. We continue to experience, at least in the ucis, a pandemic of the unvaccinated, which puts pressure on the system again, because the number of unvaccinated is so great”, the acting Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, warned today.

He added in an interview on the morning program of the ntv network, that every day it is still possible to convince a few thousand citizens, but it can also be seen that “it is becoming more and more difficult to reach those who are not yet vaccinated.”

On the other hand, he pointed out that “with an incidence like this, without vaccines”, Germany would already be in a very different situation, and he added that although vaccines allow a certain normality, they have to be accompanied by “a lot of caution.”

He also came out in favor of the 2G rule – by the German terms Geimpft and Genesen (vaccinated and healed) – indoors, at least in those regions with significant hospital pressure.

He recalled that according to the RKI, the 2G should be applied no later than when the accumulated rate of admissions in seven days with covid patients is 5 per 100,000 inhabitants.