Germany has surpassed the 4-million mark for total coronavirus cases according to data released on Sunday by the country’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) disease control body.
Since the start of the pandemic, 4,005,641 infections have been reported, though the number is thought to be higher as many infections were not recorded. The total death toll is at 92,346.
The seven-day incidence rate of coronavirus infections rose again on Sunday, to reach 83.1, nearly 10 points higher than just a week ago.
The country has moved away from using primarily the seven-day incidence rate to determine coronavirus policy, now taking into account hospital admission rates as well as other factors.
There are now more than 1,250 people in intensive care units for the coronavirus in Germany; doctors see 5,000 as the breaking point.
The number of coronavirus patients admitted to hospitals per 100,000 residents within seven days was reported by the RKI as 1.83 on Friday. By comparison, in late December, that figure was around 15.5.
However, a nationwide threshold value for when the situation should be seen as critical is not envisaged for the hospitalization incidence, among other things because of large regional differences.
Health Minister Jens Spahn made the familiar call for people to get vaccinated as quickly as possible, amid warnings that intensive care units will once again be overburdened if the vaccination rate doesn’t pick up. “To get through autumn and winter safely, we still need 5 million vaccinations and more,” said Spahn at a G20 meeting in Rome.
About 61.2 per cent of the population in Germany is now fully vaccinated, and 65.7 per cent have at least one vaccination.
However, the Spiegel news magazine reported that the number of people vaccinated could actually be significantly higher than official figures show, based on surveys conducted in multiple German states.
According to the report, at least 350,000 doses administered in the second quarter were not reported to the RKI nor counted nationally.
These figures were found by comparing the vaccinations reported by doctors practices on an RKI portal against their billing software.