There is currently little momentum in the seven-day incidence of coronavirus in Germany. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week this Friday morning at 63.8. By comparison, it had been 62.6 the previous day, 64.3 a week ago, and 82.7 a month ago.

Health offices in Germany reported 10,429 new Corona infections to the RKI within one day. A week ago, the figure had been 10,118 infections.Across Germany, 86 deaths were recorded within 24 hours, according to the new data. A week ago, there had been 73 deaths. The number of people who died from or with the involvement of a proven infection with the Sars-CoV-2 virus thus rose to 94,113.

The number of corona patients admitted to hospitals per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days - the most important parameter for a possible tightening of corona restrictions - was given by the RKI on Thursday as 1.61. That's about the same as the previous week's figure. A nationwide threshold for when the situation should be seen as critical is not provided for the hospitalization incidence, in part because of large regional differences. The previous maximum value was around 15.5 around Christmas time.

The RKI counted 4,293,807 confirmed infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the start of the pandemic, but the actual total is likely to be much higher because many infections go undetected. The RKI gave the number of those who have recovered as 4,074,300.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres harshly criticized rich countries for hoarding Corona vaccines. Withholding them from poorer ones and thus preventing fair distribution is "not only a matter of being immoral, it is also a matter of stupidity," Guterres said Thursday at an online press conference with World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

All countries that have already immunized more than 40 percent of their population against Corona are not doing enough, in the WHO's view, to combat the virus more effectively, even with vaccinations in disadvantaged countries. The WHO's goal was to immunize at least 10 percent of the population in every country in the world by the end of September. In 56 countries, however, the target was missed - and "not by their own fault," as Tedros pointed out.

Uneven vaccine distribution "favors the Corona pandemic," Guterres warned. "It allows variants to develop and run wild," he added. He warned of millions more deaths from Covid-19 and an economic downturn caused by the pandemic that could "cost trillions of dollars."

The secretary general said that as the coronavirus spreads in areas with low vaccination coverage, there is a greater risk that variants will develop against which the vaccines will not help. "All the vaccination efforts in developed countries to vaccinate the whole population once, twice or three times, all these efforts will fall apart," Guterres warned.

Tedros agreed, saying the world is "on the precipice of failure if vaccines do not become widely available immediately." He said global vaccine production is sufficient to at least meet the next goal of achieving at least 40 percent vaccination coverage in every country by the end of the year.

Tedros also reported that WHO has now finalized a definition for the long-term effects of Corona infection known by the buzzword "long covid." According to the definition, the symptoms must occur within three months of a corona infection, last for at least two months and not be explainable by another diagnosis.

Common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive impairment, according to the statement. According to the definition, symptoms may occur from the onset or after the acute stage of corona infection and may decrease and increase in severity over time. The WHO definition makes it easier to diagnose and research long covid, Tedros explained.