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COVID-19 STATS

Denmark breaks all-time Covid-19 record with over 5,000 new cases

An additional 5,120 positive Covid-19 tests were registered in Denmark in the latest daily total, a record for the country's coronavirus epidemic by some distance.

Published: 1 December 2021 16:39 CET
Christmas decorations at a Danish Covid-19 vaccination centre.
Christmas decorations at a Danish Covid-19 vaccination centre. Photo: Ólafur Steinar Rye Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix

The figure, published by agency State Serum Institute (SSI), is some way higher than the previous record of 4,508 cases set on December 18th, 2020.

Late November saw daily case totals hover around 4,000 and approach 4,500 on several occasions without exceeding it.

But Wednesday’s high number comes one day after Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said there were signs the current wave of infections was “becoming stable”.

READ ALSO: Covid-19: Data suggests Danish epidemic ‘becoming stable’

The figures reported on Wednesday are surprising, according to Kasper Karmark Iversen, senior medical consultant and professor at the University of Copenhagen and Herlev-Gentofte Hospital.

“It has otherwise been stable for some time so it’s surprising to suddenly get such an increase,” Iversen told news wire Ritzau.

“But I don’t think too much should be taken from it. It could be an outlier before we go back to the normal level tomorrow,” he said.

The 5,120 new cases come from 195,137 PCR tests, giving positivity rate of 2.62 percent.

Compared with Tuesday’s numbers, the raw figure is much higher – 4,148 cases were reported on Tuesday. But the positivity rate is comparable, having stood at 2.58 yesterday.

Hospitalised patients with Covid-19 in Denmark now number 439, an increase of six compared to Tuesday.

The strain on hospitals can be felt, despite this number being lower than the peak hospitalisation figures from the winter 2020 wave, which exceeded 900.

“There are not catastrophic conditions yet but we have a combination of an tangible lack of nurses combined with this strain. It is clearly putting pressure on hospitals,” he said.

A further two cases of the new Omicron variant were meanwhile confirmed on Wednesday. The variant has now been detected six times in Denmark since it was first identified and reported to the international community by South Africa at the end of last week.

Five of the six cases have been traced to travel to South Africa, and one case traced to travel from Qatar.

Three further suspected cases have been found not to be Omicron, and 11 more await results of genome sequencing.

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COVID-19

Germany’s weekly Covid infection rate rises above 500

Germany recorded a weekly Covid incidence of more than 500 per 100,000 people on Monday as health experts warn that the fifth wave of the pandemic has only just begun.

Published: 17 January 2022 13:09 CET
Bar in Berlin's Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, which has the highest incidence in the country.
People sit outside bars in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, where incidences are currently the highest in the country. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christophe Gateau

On Monday, the 7-day incidence of Covid infections per 100,000 people stood at 528, up from 515 the day before and 376 a week ago. 

Infections have been rising rapidly as the highly transmissible Omicron variant tightens its hold in Germany. Monday marked the fourth day in a row in which the country posted record incidences.

Since the first incidence of the variant was discovered in the country around seven weeks ago, Omicron has swiftly taken over as the dominant variant in Germany.

It currently accounts for around 73 percent of Covid infections and is expected to almost entirely replace the Delta variant this week. 

Though Omicron generally causes a less severe illness than Delta, experts are concerned that deaths and hospitalisations could remain high due to the unprecedented number of cases Germany could see.

Unlike Delta, Omicron has a large number of mutations that allow it to evade previously built up immunity through vaccinations and illness. 

The World Health Organisation has warned that half of all Europeans could be infected with the virus by spring. 

“After the temporary decline in case numbers, severe disease courses and deaths towards the end of 2021 in the fourth wave, the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has begun in Germany with the dominant circulation of the omicron variant,” the Robert Koch Institute wrote in its weekly report on Thursday.  

Since the first Omicron case was discovered in Germany, there have been 191,422 suspected or proven cases of the variant.

As Welt data journalist Olaf Gersemann pointed out in Twitter, the number of Omicron cases has increased sixfold within a fortnight. 

Increase in hospitalisations

Before this weekend, Germany had hit its previous peak of infections back in November, when the country posted a 7-day incidence of 485 per 100,000 people at during the peak of the fourth wave.

Since then, Covid measures such contact restrictions and blanket 2G (entry only for the vaccinated and recovered) or 2G-plus (vaccinated or recovered with a negative test) have been relatively effective at turning the tide. 

READ ALSO:

For the past few weeks however, infections have been on the up once again as the Omicron fifth wave begins.

The incidence of hospitalisations in the country appears to also be on the rise again after a few weeks of decline. On Friday, the 7-day incidence of hospitalisations stood at 3.24 per 100,000 people, up from 3.13 the day before.

Over the weekend, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach warned that Omicron could place additional pressure on the general hospital wards as fewer people end up in intensive care. 

“Depending on how things develop, we may face shortages not only in the intensive care units, but also in the normal wards. There is a threat of entire departments being closed,” he said.

“Rapid spread of the virus would mean hundreds of thousands will become seriously ill and we will have to mourn many thousands of deaths again.” 

Karl Lauterbach

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) speaks at a weekly press conference on Friday, January 14th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld
 

Northern states post record incidences

Since the start of the Omicron wave, northern Germany has been disproportionately affected by the virus.

As of Monday, the city-state of Bremen had the highest incidence in the country, with 1389 new cases per 100,000 people recorded in a week.

This was followed by Berlin, which currently has a 7-day incidence of 948, and Hamburg, which recorded a 7-day incidence of 806. The district with the highest incidence in Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, which posted a weekly incidence of 1597 on Monday. 

In contrast to the fourth wave, the lowest Covid incidences were recorded in the eastern states of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony. 

On Monday, Thuringia had a weekly incidence of 198 per 100,000 people, while Saxony’s incidence was 249 and Saxony-Anhalt’s was 280.

Somewhat inexplicably, the incidence has been declining in Thuringia in recent weeks, though there is speculation that this could be to do with the fact that Omicron has not yet spread in the state.

Nine of the sixteen German states have incidences of more than 500 per 100,000 people. 

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