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COVID-19

‘Summer will be good’: Has Germany broken the Covid third wave?

The number of reported Covid-19 cases in Germany is continuing to decline, signalling that the country has managed to break the third wave - but ICU wards are still under pressure.

Published: 3 May 2021 12:46 CEST
'Summer will be good': Has Germany broken the Covid third wave?
People walking among cherry blossom trees in Berlin. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bernd von Jutrczenka

So things are looking good. Is this true?

There have been encouraging signs in the coronavirus situation in Germany. The number of new infections has been falling for around a week.

At the weekend SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach predicted that the weekly number of cases would drop significantly by the end of May.

“The summer will be good,” he said in an interview with broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). However, he also called for people to remain cautious.

Lauterbach said Germany has stopped the third wave “but hasn’t defeated it yet”.

“I assume that the number of cases will drop significantly from mid/end of May,” he said. “Then we can say we have defeated the third wave.”

He said Germany had a good combination of measures in place.

“With the emergency brake, we have prevented reopening too early; by testing in schools in combination with alternating lessons (online and in-person), we have a way of preventing the worst chains of infection from breaking out there. ”

Lauterbach added that vaccinations were helping the situation but there was still a long way to go on that front.

But he added: “We are now on the last lap on the final straight.”

READ ALSO: ‘No all clear’: What Germany’s falling Covid numbers say about the third wave

How many people are getting Covid-19 at the moment?

On Sunday May 2nd the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 16,290 new cases, which was significantly lower than a week earlier when there were 19,000 cases.

On Monday May 3rd the RKI reported 9,160 new infections and 84 deaths. A week ago, there were 11,907 daily coronavirus infections and 60 deaths.

The number of cases is usually lower on Mondays due to fewer tests being carried out at the weekend.

The weekly average of new cases also fell by around 1.8 percent compared to the previous week. The 7-day average of active cases fell by 13 percent compared to the previous week.

Summing up the latest findings, high profile German journalist Olaf Gersemann said in a tweet: “The third wave is not over but it is apparently broken.”

According to the RKI, the number of new infections reported within seven days per 100,000 residents was 146.9 nationwide on Monday morning. The day before, the RKI said this incidence was 146.5. On Monday a week ago, however, the incidence was significantly higher, at 169.3.

Germany is aiming to get this incidence under 50 which would see politicians allow more facilities to open up.

There’s good news on the infection dynamics too: the nationwide 7-day reproductive number was 0.92 according to the RKI situation report on Sunday. This means that 100 infected people go on to infect 92 more people on average.

The R number represents the occurrence of the infection eight to 16 days ago. If it is below 1 for a longer period of time, the infection process subsides; if it is consistently higher, the number of cases increases.

What’s the situation in hospitals?

Currently around 5,022 people are still in intensive care in Germany after contracting Covid-19, with 2,950 people receiving ventilation.

This is still a very high figure and medical workers say they are facing major pressure, as younger age groups become ill.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. The president of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) believes the recent fall in the number of new infections will soon also be reflected in intensive care units.

“In the intensive care units we will be able to see this declining infection rate in a week, we are convinced of that,” Gernot Marx told the Rheinische Post on Monday.

In his opinion, the positive development is directly related to the ’emergency brake’ tougher measures being brought in by the federal government. They include curfews, stronger contact rules and school closures in areas with high Covid rates.

READ MORE: Vaccine effect – Covid-19 hospital admission rate falls in Germany 

Marx also said the clear progress made in vaccinations in Germany is having an impact. 

But staff in ICU are still working incredibly hard.

“All people who work on the wards continue to be challenged to the maximum,” said Marx.

When will restaurants, gyms, bars – and everything else – open again?

This we don’t know. But if infections continue to go down, public life will reopen. And there is pressure on politicians.

In view of the declining numbers, the Association of Cities and Municipalities has demanded a long-term opening plan from the federal government.

Germany has had restrictions in place since November 2020 – that’s six months – and the rules have got tougher in many places in recent weeks due to increasing Covid cases.

The association’s chief Gerd Landsberg said long-term planning had been neglected by politicians.

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HEALTH

Could there be a new wave of Covid-19 in Germany this autumn?

It’s back again: amid sinking temperatures, the incidence of Covid-19 has been slowly rising in Germany. But is this enough to merit worrying about the virus?

Published: 20 September 2023 12:05 CEST
Updated: 20 September 2023 22:22 CEST
Could there be a new wave of Covid-19 in Germany this autumn?

More people donning face masks in supermarkets, friends cancelling plans last minute due to getting sick with Covid-19. We might have seen some of those familiar reminders recently that the coronavirus is still around, but could there really be a resurgence of the virus like we experienced during the pandemic years?

According to virologists, the answer seems to be ‘maybe’: since July, the number of people newly infected with Covid-19 has been slowly rising from a very low level.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), nine people per 100,000 inhabitants became newly infected in Germany last week. A year ago, there were only around 270 reported cases.

Various Corona variants are currently on the loose in the country. According to the RKI,  the EG.5 (also called Eris) and XBB.1.16 lines were each detected in the week ending September 3rd with a share of just under 23 percent. 

The highly mutated variant BA.2.86 (Pirola), which is currently under observation by the World Health Organisation (WHO), also arrived in the country this week, according to RKI. 

High number of unreported case

The RKI epidemiologists also warned about a high number of unreported cases since hardly any testing is done. They pointed out that almost half of all registered sewage treatment plants report an increasing viral load in wastewater tests.

The number of hospital admissions has also increased slightly, but are still a far cry from the occupation rate amid the pandemic. Last week it was two per 100,000 inhabitants. In the intensive care units, only 1.2 percent of all beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients.

Still, a good three-quarters (76.4 percent) of people in Germany have been vaccinated at least twice and thus have basic immunity, reported RKI. 

Since Monday, doctors’ offices have been vaccinating with the adapted vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer, available to anyone over 12 years old, with a vaccine for small children set to be released the following week and one for those between 5 and 11 to come out October 2nd.

But Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has so far only recommended that people over 60 and those with pre-existing conditions get vaccinated.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Who should get a Covid jab this autumn in Germany?

“The pandemic is over, the virus remains,” he said. “We cannot predict the course of coming waves of corona, but it is clear that older people and people with pre-existing conditions remain at higher risk of becoming severely ill from Covid-19”

The RKI also recommended that people with a cold voluntarily wear a mask. Anyone exhibiting cough, cold, sore throat or other symptoms of a respiratory illness should voluntarily stay at home for three to five days and take regular corona self-tests. 

However, further measures such as contact restrictions are not necessary, he said.

One of many diseases

As of this autumn, Covid-19 could be one of many respiratory diseases. As with influenza, there are no longer absolute infection figures for coronavirus.

Saarbrücken pharmacist Thorsten Lehr told German broadcaster ZDF that self-protection through vaccinations, wearing a mask and getting tested when symptoms appear are prerequisites for surviving the Covid autumn well. 

Only a new, more aggressive mutation could completely turn the game around, he added.

On April 7th of this year, Germany removed the last of its over two-year long coronavirus restrictions, including mask-wearing in some public places.

READ ALSO: German doctors recommend Covid-19 self-tests amid new variant

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