++ Corona in Germany (01/18/2023): Current number of cases from the RKI

The Robert Koch Institute publishes the current figures in the corona pandemic. The development on Wednesday (January 18) at a glance.

Frankfurt/Berlin – The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) put the nationwide seven-day incidence on Wednesday morning at 80.1. This emerges from figures that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 3:09 a.m. The day before, the value of new corona infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week was 87.9 (previous week: 131.3; previous month: 241.6).

However, this information provides only a very incomplete picture the number of infections. Experts have been assuming for some time that there will be a large number of cases not recorded by the RKI – mainly because not all infected people have a PCR test done. But only positive PCR tests count in the statistics. In addition, late registrations and transmission problems can lead to the distortion of individual daily values.

New corona infections in Germany have fallen

The health authorities in Germany reported to the RKI within a day 15,450 new corona infections (previous week: 22,119) and 188 deaths (previous week: 269). Here, too, comparisons of the data are only possible to a limited extent due to the test behavior, late registrations and transmission problems. The number of registered new infections and deaths generally fluctuates significantly from weekday to weekday, since many federal states do not transmit them to the RKI, especially at weekends, and report their cases later in the week.

The RKI has counted 37,637,807 infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, since many infections are not detected or infections are no longer reported.

Current corona case numbers for Germany at a glance

Note: Since the beginning of June 2022, the RKI has no longer reported Germany-wide numbers on new infections and deaths at the beginning of the week. The reason for this is that only a few health authorities transmit data at the weekend. Even after public holidays, the figures are not very meaningful.

• The values ​​must be taken into accountthat individual federal states do not report data on every day of the week. The health authorities are not legally obliged to transmit the data on weekends. Because there are no direct consequences at state or federal level, fewer and fewer health authorities and federal states are transmitting the data on Saturdays and Sundays. There may also be delays on public holidays.
• Daily fluctuations should therefore not be overestimated – especially at the weekend and at the beginning of the week. This in turn leads to late registrations on the following days. A comparison of daily values ​​is therefore becoming increasingly difficult. For the assessment of the course, the consideration of the weekly comparison is therefore more expedient.
• Professionals have been going for some time also from a high number of cases not recorded by the RKI – due to overworked health authorities and also because not all infected people have a PCR test done. Only these count in the statistics. In addition, late registrations or transmission problems can lead to a distortion of individual daily values.
• Therefore, when interpreting the current case numbers It should be noted that due to the lower level of testing, reporting and transmission activity, there may be an increased underreporting of cases in the reporting system. A detailed assessment of the epidemiological situation takes place every Thursday in the weekly report of the RKI.

Infection with the omicron variant of the coronavirus can cause certain symptoms. Researchers have found out how long you are contagious after being infected with the corona variant. Anyone who wants to be “free tested” as a result of an infection must now take a few things into account: The corona test is no longer free. (lrg/dpa)