COVID-19: German hospitals warn of overload due to new wave of the disease

The rapid increase in infections of the COVID-19 in a new autumn wave is pushing German hospitals to the limit of their capacity, the president of the Association of German Hospitals warned today, Gerald Gaß.

The number of beds occupied by positive patients has increased by 50% compared to last week and hospitals are facing “extremely difficult weeks”, he told the “RND” media group.

For his part, the director of the Intensive Medicine Registry (DIVI), Christian Karagiannidisexplained to this same media group that in some German regions there are already pockets in which there are hardly any free beds in the Intensive Care Units.

According to DIVI data, there are currently about 1,660 positive patients for coronavirus admitted to German ICUs, of which approximately 50% require treatment for the effects of the virus

Infections among hospital staff and the consequent sick leave pose an added problem for medical centers, which already operate with a chronic lack of professionals.

That is why the Hospital Association does not rule out that in the near future it will be necessary for some centers to once again cancel non-urgent interventions or close certain wings to new admissions.

According to data from Institute Robert Koch (RKI) of virology, this Tuesday the seven-day cumulative incidence stood at 799.9 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, while a week ago there were 374 and a month ago, 220.9.

Pandemic figures

On the other hand, in the last 24 hours, 136,748 new cases were detected and 199 deaths were recorded.

However, this statistic is only influenced by positives detected with PCR tests, which are currently only carried out on specific occasions, so experts assume that the real figure is three to five times higher.

German health authorities consider that the country is at the beginning of a seventh wave and have warned that this time it could be accompanied by a flu epidemic, after last winter the restrictions due to the pandemic reduced the number of cases. of this disease.

Therefore, the Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach, has advised that those over 60 years of age receive a combination of the fourth anticovid dose -the second booster- and the flu vaccine. (EFE)