According to figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Saturday, 18,129 new infections with the Corona virus and 120 new deaths with Corona were reported within one day. The seven-day incidence – infections per 100,000 inhabitants within one week – was 131.4 nationwide. New infections in Germany had been significantly lower in January and February than in December. However, the seven-day incidence doubled over a three-week period in March.
The highly contagious Corona variant B.1.1.7 has now largely replaced the original variant of the Coronavirus with 88 percent of the cases, according to data from the current week. Therefore, the Covid cases in hospitals could increase significantly. The scientific director of the Divi Intensive Care Register, Christian Karagiannidis, had warned, three days ago, that “the bottom line was that 1,000 additional intensive care patients had ended up in hospitals”. If the trend remains the same, one will “have reached the regular capacity limit” in less than a month from now, Karagiannidis said.
The chairman of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine, Marx, had also expressed his concern. With over 3000 occupied beds, the load is currently as high as at peak times in spring 2020, he said.