Over 1% Of Germans Currently Ill With COVID-19 - Robert Koch Institute

About 926,000 Germany's residents or slightly over 1% of the country's 83-million population are currently ill with COVID-19, Lothar Wieler, the president of Germany's Robert Koch Institute, said on Friday

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2021) About 926,000 Germany's residents or slightly over 1% of the country's 83-million population are currently ill with COVID-19, Lothar Wieler, the president of Germany's Robert Koch Institute, said on Friday.

"It is too early now to state the change in dynamics and cancel strict measures. The other way around. Now, the number of active (COVID-19) cases in Germany is assessed as 926,000. This means that over 1% of the population are infected," Wieler told a press conference.

Around 4,800 COVID-19 patients are now in intensive care, and the load on hospitals is expected to grow in the next days due to numerous new admissions, Wieler added. The official also forecast an increase in the number of lethal cases in the near future.

When commenting on the new Omicron coronavirus variant, Wieler said that German experts can not precisely evaluate the strain yet.

"But we can definitely say that it is in Germany and that by all appearances, it is known today that Omicron can be more contagious and can more easily hit those vaccinated and recovered," Wieler said.

The German official warned people that the Omicron coronavirus strain will cause more infections than the Delta variant amid the overloaded health care system. Therefore, all the restrictive measures must be respected, Wieler concluded.

Over 57 million people in Germany have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far, which is nearly 69% of its population.