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The president of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, calls the recent increase in new corona infections “worrisome.” The situation remains very serious and has worsened since last week, Wieler told the institute’s press conference in Berlin.
“The infection process can quickly turn upside down again,” warned Wieler. The exponential growth of new infections in Germany could return quickly. Wieler explained the situation by saying that the corona virus was very common in the population. Therefore, it is very important to respect the protective measures.
The number of new corona infections reported in one day had peaked Thursday morning: Health authorities reported 23,679 new infections to the RKI, as the numbers showed. The previous record was reached on November 20 with 23,648 reported cases. In Wednesday’s management report, the RKI wrote that a significant increase in the number of cases has been observed since December 4.
“The number of serious cases and deaths is also increasing,” Wieler said. The plateau that new infections have been on for a few weeks is extremely fragile. According to the RKI, the situation in nursing homes and for the elderly is particularly difficult. Currently there are almost twice as many shoots there as in spring. On average, almost 20 people are affected by outbreak.
Reduce contacts by 60 percent
Wieler also went into a vaccine: “We may be able to start vaccinating in late 2020 or early 2021,” he said. The RKI Permanent Vaccination Commission (Stiko) has stipulated that residents of nursing homes, people over 80 years of age, staff at risk of special exposure, care staff in facilities with vulnerable groups and staff in medical facilities where risk groups are treated, you should be vaccinated.
The partial closure since the beginning of November is not enough to successfully contain the coronavirus. Population contacts should be reduced by at least 60 percent, the current 40 percent is very few. With a strict lockdown, Ireland and Belgium had managed to reduce contacts by more than 60 per cent and thus reduced infections. In Germany there is also no good alternative to stricter measures unless contacts are significantly reduced beforehand.
