The number of fatalities from the coronavirus in Germany is “very worrying,” the head of the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases (RKI) said Thursday, when the country reported the highest one-day pandemic death toll of 1,244.
New Covid-19 infections “ must reduce en masse, ” Lothar Wieler told journalists in Berlin, adding that “ intensive care units have never been more exhausted than in recent days. ” 5,200 patients are now treated in German ICUs, 90% of whom are on artificial respiration.
The average age of patients in intensive care units is about 60 years, the RKI chief said.
Germany is on high alert for new, more contagious mutations of the virus, Wieler said. Sixteen new cases of coronavirus related to the UK variant and four new coronavirus cases related to the South African variant have been detected in the country in the country.
On Thursday, Germany registered 25,164 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total number to 1,978,590, according to the latest data from RKI.
The RKI chief said the current lockdown is “not as effective as it was in the spring,” calling on German citizens to “stay at home whenever possible” and urging employers to let employees work from home as well.
Health Minister Jens Spahn hit Wednesday hoped that Germany could lift all lockdown measures for the corona virus in early February.