‘TERRIBLE CHRISTMAS’: GERMANY REPORTS RECORD 65,371 NEW COVID-19 CASES

Thu 18 November 2021:

The head of Germany’s disease control organization has warned that unless actions are made to combat the high spike in coronavirus infections, the country could face a “really terrible Christmas.”

According to the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s disease control organization, 65,371 new confirmed cases were registered in a single day on Thursday, continuing a trend that experts have been warning about for weeks.

The virus claimed 264 more lives, bringing the country’s death toll in the pandemic to 98,538.

Health authorities in the southern state of Bavaria warned that many hospitals have reached their full capacity with seriously ill COVID-19 patients, and started transferring new patients to other cities and states.

There were 3,376 seriously ill coronavirus patients in intensive care units (ICUs) across the country on Wednesday, with 1,710 of them on mechanical ventilators.

Germany has seen a resurgence of coronavirus as people spend more time indoors during the colder months, and a large number of people are still unvaccinated against the disease.

As many as 56.3 million people, or 67.7% of the country’s population, are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The government’s goal has been to vaccinate at least 75% of the population to prevent an exponential rise in new infections during the fall and winter months.

Germany’s central government and premiers of federal states are scheduled to hold a videoconference later in the day to organize a wider vaccination campaign and introduce tougher restrictions, especially for unvaccinated people.

Wieler said Germany needs to increase its vaccination rates to significantly above 75%, from 67.7% at present. Some regions in Germany have vaccination rates as low as 57.6%.

He also called for the closure of clubs and bars, an end to large-scale events and access to many parts of public life to be limited to those with vaccine or recovery certificates.

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