After a brief interruption, the nationwide seven-day incidence of new Corona infections has risen again. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Friday morning, the value rose to 442.1. As the RKI further announced, citing data from health offices, 74,352 new infections were recorded within 24 hours. Germany has thus exceeded the number of six million registered infections. Since the start of the pandemic, health offices have reported 6,051,560 cases.

The Institute put the number of people recovered from corona virus illness in Germany at around 5,023,200, also a new record. The total number of corona deaths in Germany rose by 390 to 102,568.

The seven-day incidence indicates the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within one week. Since the beginning of November, the value has risen rapidly. As a result, new highs were registered daily. Then on Tuesday, the RKI reported a decline in incidence for the first time in more than three weeks. By Thursday, it had dropped from 452.4 to 439.2.

The strong increase of the past weeks has thus not continued, writes the RKI in its weekly report published on Thursday. This could be a first indication of a "slightly weakening dynamic in transmission events due to the significantly intensified measures to reduce contact." However, it is also possible that regional capacities in public health services and laboratories have been exhausted. This would mean that not all cases are detected or recorded and that the figures are actually higher. In view of current developments, the authorities fear that there will be more serious illnesses and deaths.

Because the number of PCR tests performed and the need for sequencing are also increasing weekly and placing a burden on laboratories, the RKI is also calling for "prioritization of the use of PCR tests in accordance with the National Testing Strategy." Depending on regional availability, the use of the tests should be critically reviewed and, if necessary, limited, for example, in the targeted shortening of the quarantine time of contact persons and in de-isolation. Depending on the case situation, high-quality antigen tests could be used instead.

On November 18, the federal and state governments defined the so-called hospitalization incidence as the decisive benchmark for tightening the Corona measures. This value indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants are hospitalized within seven days due to a Corona infection.From a value of three, the 2G rule applies nationwide for events in a federal state. That means only those vaccinated against coronavirus and those recovered from Covid-19 are admitted. On Wednesday, the hospitalization incidence nationwide was 5.47, according to the RKI.