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reGerman health authorities reported 15,974 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in one day. In addition, 1,148 new deaths were recorded in 24 hours, the RKI announced Wednesday morning. Exactly a week ago, the RKI had recorded 19,600 new infections and 1,060 new deaths in 24 hours.
“After a sharp increase in the number of cases in early December, a decrease during the holidays, and a renewed increase in the first week of January, the number of cases in most (but not all) federal states now it is declining slightly, “the RKI wrote in its management report Tuesday evening. The maximum of 1,244 new deaths was reached on Thursday. Among new infections recorded within 24 hours, the highest value was reported on December 18, at 33,777, but this included 3,500 late reports.
Huge differences between federal states
The number of new infections reported in seven days per 100,000 residents (seven-day incidence) was 123.5 on Wednesday morning, according to the RKI. Its previous high was reached on December 22 at 197.6. The number fluctuated after that and has been dropping again for a few days.
However, the differences between the federal states are currently huge: Thuringia has the highest incidences with 237.7 and Brandenburg with 208.8. Bremen has the lowest value with 78.5. The RKI has counted 2,068,002 infections detected with Sars-CoV-2 in Germany since the beginning of the pandemic (until January 20, 00:00). The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections go undetected.
The total number of people who died with or with a proven Sars-CoV-2 infection increased to 48,770. The RKI stated the number of those who had recovered at around 1,741,800. According to RKI’s situation report on Tuesday evening, the seven-day R-value nationwide was 0.87 (previous day: 0.89). This means that, in theory, 100 infected people infect 87 more people. The value represents the appearance of the infection 8 to 16 days ago. If it is below 1 for a long time, the infection process subsides.
The federal and state governments had previously decided on a prolonged lockdown until February 14 on Tuesday night. To curb the spread of highly contagious virus mutations in Germany as much as possible, some measures are being strengthened, such as the use of protective masks on local public transport. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the 16 prime ministers decided that after hours of deliberation. Therefore, schools must remain closed until February 14. A regulation should bring more home office work and the use of medical masks on local public transport and in retail is mandatory. Merkel said it was quite possible with the new measures to bring the incidence of new infections to the target mark of 50 by mid-February. But there is no guarantee for this.
