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The growth of coronavirus infections in Germany could be much more severe without countermeasures, a senior official at the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases said on Thursday, cited by Reuters.
A pandemic can reach a reproduction rate (coefficient known as “R”) of 3 to 4 without strict measures (one coronavirus carrier infects three or four others), while currently the reproduction rate in Germany is around 1 , the head of the institute’s monitoring unit – Ute Rexroth, warned at a virtual press conference.
He said the number of cases may not rise as steeply as in October due to the new lockdown measures, but it may also be because tests in labs are reaching capacity.
Ute Rexroth pointed out that there is currently a high incidence of Covid-19 in the age group between 10 and 19 years.
The percentage of people infected with Covid-19 is increasing and Germany must be prepared for a worsening of the situation, said the president of the Robert Koch Institute, Dr. Lothar Wheeler.
He stressed that the constant large number of coronavirus cases means that the country must wait for hospitals to reach their capacity limits.
However, commenting on the country’s partial lockdown introduced since the beginning of the month, Dr. Wheeler said: “We analyze the numbers every day. We see a plateau in the newly infected. Let’s wait and see. We will facilitate measures, but by how much. will depend depends “. how much we follow all the restrictive rules. “
He hopes that the new restrictive rules aimed at slowing the spread of the pandemic in Germany will remain in place for a long time, as vaccination will take time and there is likely to be an uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 in some parts of the country.
Meanwhile, German Health Minister Jens Spahn told Berlin-based RBB that he expects restrictions to control the pandemic to continue into the winter, and that life is unlikely to return to normal in December. or January, even if there is a drop in the number of injured. .
“I don’t see more than 10 or 15 people this winter,” Jens Spahn said.
Germany reported 21,866 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, resulting in a total of 727,553 since the start of the pandemic. This represents a daily jump above the 20,000 threshold after four consecutive days below, while the death toll rose by 215 to 11,982, according to the latest data from the Robert Koch Institute.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of the German regions will meet on Monday to review whether the partial lockdown measures imposed on November 2 were enough to curb the sharp increase in new infections that risk infecting infected people. hospitals in the country.
Merkel said on Thursday there were reliable signs that a coronavirus vaccine could be on the horizon, but warned it would take time. He declined to say whether Germany could allow bars and restaurants to reopen in December.
“We all have to be reasonable, we have to reach 50 cases per 100,000 people in 7 days,” he said when asked if the partial closure would end at the end of November. However, the figure is currently 139 per 100,000.
Germany
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