DThe nationwide seven-day incidence has again increased slightly. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week on Wednesday morning as 1734.2. For comparison: the day before the value was 1733.4. A week ago, the nationwide incidence was 1607.1. The health authorities in Germany reported 283,732 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. This is evident from numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5 a.m. A week ago there were 262,593 infections.
Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. One reason is the limited capacity of health authorities, for example, and contacts are often only tracked to a limited extent.
According to the new information, 329 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 269 deaths. The RKI has counted 19,278,143 proven infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections go undetected.
Seven out of 100,000 residents are in hospital with Corona
The RKI last gave the number of corona infected patients per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days on Tuesday at 7.08 (Monday: 7.36). Among them are many people with a positive corona test who have another main illness.
The RKI gave the number of recovered people on Wednesday as 15,121,100. The number of people who died from or involved a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 127,522.
So far, around 471.14 million people worldwide have been shown to have contracted the corona virus. This is the result of a Reuters survey based on official data. More than 6.46 million people died with or from the virus, which was first detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The United States has the highest number of infections and deaths. India and Brazil follow in terms of infections.
Corona relaxation not the result of focus on the war
According to the psychologist Cornelia Betsch, the war in Ukraine is not the reason why many people currently perceive Corona as less of a threat. “People are currently perceiving a higher risk from the war than from Corona,” said the Erfurt professor for health communication of the German Press Agency. The fact that the risk perception for Corona is falling is not because the war is drawing attention – “but because people think Corona is less bad at the moment.”
Betsch also referred to data from the Cosmo study on corona risk behavior, which she has been conducting with colleagues for two years. Every few weeks, 1000 randomly selected adults are asked about current topics related to the pandemic. It can be clearly seen that given the high number of cases, people tend to assume that they will become infected. But they would be less afraid of it. “We can clearly see that the narrative of the mild course prevails.” In addition, there have been the political easing debates of the past few weeks, which probably contribute to the perceived relaxation.
Situation in hospitals in the southwest tense
Because many employees are sick or areolating themselves during the current omicron wave, the staffing level in the Baden-Württemberg hospitals is thin. “The current situation in hospitals may not be as tense as it was in December 2021, for example, but there can be absolutely no talk of relief,” said Matthias Einwag, Managing Director of the Baden-Württemberg Hospital Association (BWKG), when asked.
According to Einwag, many operations have had to be postponed several times in recent months. “The clinics are trying to treat these patients now wherever possible.” In this situation, the time when the hospitals can go back to normal operations is a long way off. Due to the general shortage of skilled workers, Einwag assumes that even in “normal times” 10 to 15 percent of the bed capacities in the hospitals in Baden-Württemberg will actually not be available. “In addition, there are staff shortages due to sick leave due to omicron infections.”