The number of corona infections continues to increase, albeit not as dynamically as recently. Very young and older people in particular are currently affected. It is striking that significantly more people than before the pandemic are suffering from acute respiratory infections.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), more people in Germany are likely to have acute respiratory diseases compared to the same time in the years before the corona pandemic. According to the RKI weekly report, 1.2 million visits to the doctor for this reason and 4.5 million cases were assumed for the past week.
"These values are significantly higher than the values in the summer of pre-pandemic years and indicate a stronger incidence of infection due to acute respiratory infections." According to random virological studies, it is mainly Sars-CoV-2 that is behind it in adults, while other pathogens are the main cause in children, it said. Parainfluenza and rhinoviruses were mentioned.
In previous reports, the RKI had spoken of an increased activity of respiratory diseases for the time of year. The Frankfurt virologist Sandra Ciesek also pointed out on Twitter that diagnostics is currently showing a colorful picture of pathogens. If you have symptoms and a PCR test for Sars-CoV-2 is negative, "then it is very likely that you are infected with another pathogen". Of course, there are false negatives, but they are rare.
According to the RKI weekly report, the seven-day incidence increases only slightly in a weekly comparison. The highest growth rates are currently in the youngest and the oldest age groups. However, the absolute highest number of new infections within seven days per 100,000 inhabitants is in the 15-34 age group with almost 960, followed by the 35-64 year olds with 885. Due to the high infection pressure, the number of infections is also increasing in nursing homes and hospitals. The proportion of positive PCR tests in all PCR corona tests carried out was 49.9 percent in the past week. In the previous week it was 46.2 percent.
For about six months, the omicron variant has dominated the infection process in Germany - it accounts for 99 percent of all corona infections. The subvariant BA.5 is responsible for 77 percent. In the previous week, their share was 65.4 percent. The subvariants BA.4 (6.7 percent) and BA.2 (16.1 percent), on the other hand, occur less frequently.
About 2,600 people have been hospitalized with a severe respiratory infection and Covid-19 in the past week. This corresponds to 3.1 hospitalizations per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days. In the particularly badly affected age group of over 80-year-olds, the hospitalization value was 23. The number of Covid 19 patients treated in an intensive care unit was 1045. In the previous week the value was 934 patients.
In its weekly report, the RKI writes that there is no evidence that the dominant Omicron BA.5 variant would cause more severe courses or higher mortality. Due to the general increase in infections, the number of severe cases would also increase, which would result in more hospitalizations.
