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EXPLAINED: These are Germany’s current Covid hotspots

The fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic is starting to gain steam in Germany. Which districts of the country are worst affected?

Published: 25 August 2021 16:52 CEST
Updated: 28 August 2021 08:21 CEST
EXPLAINED: These are Germany's current Covid hotspots
Pedestrians in hotspot Leverkusen on Monday. Photo: dpa | Oliver Berg

The latest figures published by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) this Wednesday show the highest levels of coronavirus infection since late May, with 11,500 new positive cases recorded in one day.

At the same time the government’s new measure for assessing the severity of the pandemic – hospitalisations per 100,000 people – has risen from 1.19 a week ago to 1.47 today. At the height of the crisis last winter that figure was estimated to be around 12.

The rise in cases in this fourth wave of the virus is not spread evenly over the country, though. These are the areas that are the current hotspots.

North-Rhine Westphalia

The country’s most populous state is the current focal point of the fourth wave, with the city of Leverkusen having a 7-day incidence of 228, making it the place with the most severe outbreak in the country.

Several other cities in the western state are also at the top of the chart published by the RKI that breaks down the country into its roughly 300 districts.

Wuppertal and Solingen both have 7-day incidences over 180, while Mönchengladbach, Dortmund and Hagen have incidences above 150.

Cologne and Düsseldorf, the state’s two major cities, have incidences of over 140.

The steep rise in cases in the west of the country is already being seen in higher intensive care occupancy.

In Leverkusen, eight beds on the city’s intensive care wards are currently taken up by Covid patients – that’s 15 percent of the city’s total ICU capacity.

In the metropole of Cologne, 29 beds on the intensive care ward are now occupied by Covid patients.

The south west

The small state of Saarland on the French border has the next highest level of infection after NRW, with a current 7-day incidence of 71 cases per 100,000 people.

Currently though the level of hospitalisation in the rural state remains relatively low, with just 10 of the 166 ICU beds in state capital Saarbrücken occupied by Covid patients.

Die Welt newspaper’s Covid watcher, Olaf Gersemann, points out that the incidence has been rising in the south west as a whole, with Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, and Rhineland-Palatinate all now recording 7-day incidences above 50.

Bavaria

Over 6,500 new cases of Covid have been reported in Germany’s large southeastern state over the past week.

The city of Rosenheim has the second worst outbreak in the country, with a current 7-day incidence of 197 cases per 100,000 people. Currently 20 percent of its ICU beds are taken up by Covid patients.

State capital Munich has a 7-day incidence of 60, which roughly equates to the national average.

The city states

The major city states of Hamburg and Berlin both saw a rapid increase in cases in the first half of August. The good news is that case numbers in both cities have now started to fall.

Hamburg has a current 7-day incidence of 68 while Berlin stands at 67. 

READ MORE: 3G to 2G – Hamburg venues can allow entry for Covid-vaccinated and recovered people only

Where are cases low?

The east of the country, which was so badly hit by the pandemic over the winter, currently has very low levels of infection.

Saxony, which has recorded the highest number of deaths in relation to its population, currently has a 7-day incidence of just 16. Similarly neighbouring Thuringia has an incidence of 14.

And the two northern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein, both of which have avoided the worst of the pandemic, continue to record relatively low levels of infection.

SEE ALSO: Can visitors to Germany still get free Covid tests under new rules?

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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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