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COVID-19 STATS

Danish Covid-19 infections fall back following record day

The most recent update sees an additional 4,860 new cases of Covid-19 in Denmark.

Published: 2 December 2021 15:55 CET
A file photo showing a sample for a Covid-19 test. Denmark registered over 4,600 new cases on December 2nd.
A file photo showing a sample for a Covid-19 test. Denmark registered over 4,600 new cases on December 2nd. File photo: Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix

The figure comes from 189,695 PCR tests, giving a positivity rate of 2.47 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of people admitted to hospital with the virus fell on Thursday by 12 to 427.

The numbers provide some sense of respite after an unusually large figure for daily infections on Wednesday, which set a new record for the epidemic in Denmark.

Wednesday saw 5,120 new cases come 195,137 PCR tests, giving a positivity rate of 2.62 percent. Two days ago, 4,148 cases were reported with the positivity rate being 2.58 percent.

Professor in clinical microbiology at the University of Southern Denmark, Hans-Jørgen Kolmos, said Thursday’s update appeared to be positive news in the context of the preceding week.

“This looks like a status quo. It’s not a large difference seen across the last week. Neither the number of infections nor the number of hospitalisations has increased further and the longer term trend appears to be stagnating,” the professor told news wire Ritzau.

READ ALSO: Denmark urges public to get booster jabs after Covid-19 infections break record

A leading health official in Denmark said on Wednesday that authorities believe Covid-19 vaccines are “probably” effective against the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The variant, first identified in South Africa where it is now spreading exponentially according to international reports, has so far been detected 14 times in Denmark.

Danish health authorities believe vaccines are likely to be effective against the variant even though it maybe more transmissible than the currently-dominant Delta variant, the director of Denmark’s national infectious disease agency SSI, Henrik Ullum, said at a briefing on Wednesday.

At the time of the briefing, 7 cases had been confirmed in Denmark and 108 globally outside of South Africa.

“But when we as a small country have found seven, that is probably not because we have many more (than other countries) but because we are good at finding them,” Ullum said.

Indications from South Africa so far suggest Omicron is more transmissible, however.

“There’s significant concern that antibodies in vaccines do not bind quite as well,” Ullum said.

Denmark has currently restricted travel from 10 African countries but not European cases with several confirmed Omicron cases such as Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands.

That is because the variant is not widespread in those countries, while the Danish cases are largely linked to travel from South Africa, the Danish Health Authority director Søren Brostrøm said at the briefing.

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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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