The figure is dramatically symbolic. More than 100,000 people, exactly 100,119, have died from Covid-19 in Germany since the start of the pandemic, the federal health authority (RKI) announced on Thursday, accounting for 351 deaths over the last 24 hours in the midst of the outbreak of infections.
In one day, the RKI also counted 75,961 new contaminations, a new high at a time when the largest European economy fears a saturation of hospitals. The seven-day incidence reached a record 419.7.
A fourth record wave
Hospitals in some regions are already facing an “acute overload” which necessitates patient transfers, Gernot Marx, president of the German Federation of Intensive Medicine, warned on Monday. The incidence had for the first time exceeded Wednesday the mark of 400 infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. Several regions have reinstated strict restrictions to stem the fourth wave of the coronavirus, the strongest since the appearance of the virus.
Some 69% of the population are fully vaccinated, less than in other European countries like France, where the rate reaches 75%. “The situation is serious,” admitted Wednesday Olaf Scholz, future Social Democratic leader of the government after a coalition agreement with the Greens and the Liberals of the FDP, promising to “do everything” in the face of the pandemic.
A new chancellor in December
The new government coalition, which will take the head of the country in December, however seems to immediately exclude the idea of national confinement, and is betting on the generalization of the health pass in transport and access restrictions for non-citizens. vaccinated, for example for cultural places. Germany must “study” a possible “extension” of the vaccination obligation, in force in the army and soon in health facilities, said Olaf Scholz. A billion euros will also be released in favor of nursing staff and nursing assistants.
The outgoing government of Angela Merkel also extended Wednesday until April 2022 the aid granted to companies affected by closures or decreases in income as well as the partial unemployment scheme.
