The number of infections continues to rise, and the number of admissions to hospitals is also increasing. But RKI President Wieler already sees light at the end of the tunnel.
Berlin – Despite the very high number of corona infections in Germany, the President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) speaks of positive developments.
“I am optimistic that we will soon have survived the omicron wave, even if the peak of the wave has not yet been reached,” said Lothar Wieler on Tuesday in Berlin. “So far we have managed comparatively well through this storm.”
Compared to the previous Delta variant, a smaller proportion of those infected at Omikron became seriously ill, said Wieler. There is an increase in hospital admissions, but this is comparatively small. In the past seven days, 1.2 million Sars-CoV-2 cases have been transmitted to the RKI, which is around ten percent of all cases registered in the pandemic.
No all-clear yet
According to the RKI boss, it is too early to give the all-clear: So far, younger people in particular have been infected, while the incidence among older people has only gradually increased. The high number of unvaccinated people over the age of 60 continues to cause concern. Wieler called for the contagion to be slowed down in order to protect vulnerable groups and critical infrastructure. “In a few weeks we survived the omicron wave. Let’s stay calm and mindful and alert. And then we can relax and look forward to Easter,” he said.
“In fact, we are at a turning point. This phase of the pandemic is very different than two years ago,” said Wieler. The virus is better known, large parts of the population have basic immunity, and the effective measures are known. However, one must continue to monitor how the situation in the intensive care units and the number of Covid 19 deaths are developing. dpa
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