Berlin, June 16, (dpa/GNA) – The incidence of new coronavirus infections is continuing to fall in Germany as the Covid-19 death toll topped 90,000 on Wednesday, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control and prevention.
The total number of deaths was 90,074 on Wednesday, the RKI reported. According to the data, 137 new deaths were recorded in Germany within 24 hours. A week ago, there were 107 deaths. At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, more than 1,000 deaths were reported each day.
The milestone was marked as the incidence of infection continues to decline in Germany: On Wednesday, the RKI reported a nationwide seven-day incidence rate of 13.2 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, down from 15.5 the previous day and 20.8 the previous week. The last time the value was lower was 13.0 on September 25.
On June 16 last year, the incidence was 2.6, and it stayed around the value of 3 for a few weeks afterwards.
The health authorities in Germany reported 1,455 new coronavirus infections to the RKI within one day, compared to a week ago, when the figure was 3,254 infections.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the RKI has counted a total of 3,717,625 proven infections with the coronavirus. The actual total number, however, is probably much higher, as many infections are not recognised.
The nationwide seven-day R-value, or reinfection rate was 0.72, down from the previous day’s 0.77, according to the RKI. This means that 100 infected people mathematically infect 72 other people.
The R-value represents the infection incidence eight to 16 days ago. If the R-value is below 1 for a longer period of time, the number of infections is decreasing; if it is continuously above 1, the number of cases is increasing.
A politician who is an expert in health issues from one of the governing coalition parties has warned that the so-called delta variant of the coronavirus will again cause more infections in Germany in autumn.
“I am quite sure that we will also get the delta variant in Germany,” Karl Lauterbach of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) said on Tuesday evening to the capital region’s broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB).
So far, the variant originating in India has only appeared to a s
mall extent in Germany.
A new study by Oxford University shows that the seasonality of this variant is much more pronounced than originally assumed: In summer, the risk of contracting it is much lower, explained Lauterbach, who is a professor of health economics and epidemiology at the University of Cologne.
However, it is clearly more contagious, leads to a more severe Covid-19 infection, and appears partly resistant to the first vaccination, he said.
“But I hope that by then so many of us will have been doubly vaccinated that there will no longer be such a big wave,” Lauterbach said.
Against this background, the health expert demanded that children also be offered vaccination.
“Especially with the delta variant, we have seen in England that of the infected children, 1 per cent fall so seriously ill that they have to be treated in hospital. That is not a small thing,” Lauterbach said.
GNA