Germany registered 28,037 new COVID-19 infections within one day, almost 12,000 more than a week ago, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Thursday.
The seven-day incidence rate soared to 130.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared with 118 the day before and only 85.6 a week ago, according to the RKI, the federal agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention.
In view of rising infection figures, the German Hospital Federation (DKG) warned against an overburdening of hospitals. “We are in a critical situation of the pandemic,” Gerald Gass, DKG chairman, told RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland, an editorial team for national content for the Madsack publishing company in Hanover, on Thursday.
Within one week, the number of hospitalized patients went up by 40 percent while intensive care units received 15 percent more patients. “If this trend continues, we will have 3,000 patients in intensive care again in just two weeks,” Gass stressed.
According to Germany’s intensive care registry DIVI, almost 1,800 COVID-19 patients were currently treated in intensive care units (ICU). At the peak of the epidemic in Germany in January this year, there were more than 5,700 COVID-19 patients in ICUs.
In view of high incidences also among children, pediatricians were hoping for swift “European approval of the BioNTech vaccine for the age group of five to 11 years, which will then also be adopted in Germany,” Joerg Doetsch, president of the German Society of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ), told Funke Mediengruppe on Thursday.
On Tuesday, an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) already recommended emergency approval of BioNTech/Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children up to 11, according to the German vaccine developer. A final decision is still expected.
By Wednesday, around 55.3 million people in Germany had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, bringing the country’s vaccination rate to 66.5 percent, according to the RKI. The respective figure for adolescents aged between 12 and 17 is 40.9 percent.
(With inputs from agencies)
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