BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – In the Corona summer wave, the Robert Koch Institute is recognizing a downward trend, but is still not giving the all-clear. The nationwide seven-day incidence fell significantly by a total of 21 percent last week compared to the previous week, according to the institute’s weekly report on Covid-19 on Thursday evening. The incidences have fallen in a weekly comparison in all federal states and age groups. However, the general infection pressure remains high, the authors warn. “The associated burden on the healthcare system also remains high, even if the operational situation has improved slightly in the past week.”
The values for acute respiratory diseases in the general population, such as the number of doctor visits, have fallen compared to those in the previous week – but are still higher than in previous years at this time, the RKI experts point out. In addition, outbreaks in nursing homes continued to increase. The RKI recently spoke of a fairly stable level of deaths in connection with the virus – in the last week with 444 deaths reported.
With a view to the next few weeks, the institute expects a “continued high number of hospitalizations, Covid 19 patients requiring intensive care and deaths, especially in older age groups”.
The omicron subline BA.5 has increased somewhat at a high level and, according to the latest available data, has been found in more than 92 percent of the positive samples. The RKI also calls for “absolutely” complying with the recommendations for avoiding contagion./jjk/DP/he