Germany's daily Covid-19 infections exceed 90,000 for first time

Berlin, Jan 15 (IANS) The number of daily Covid-19 infections registered in Germany exceeded the 90,000 mark for the first time since the start of the pandemic, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases has said.

For the third consecutive day, Germany reported a new record number of daily Covid-19 cases, with 92,223 cases on Friday, according to the RKI on Friday.

The country's seven-day Covid-19 incidence rate also rose to 470.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the German federal agency.

After the temporary decline in Covid-19 numbers at the end of 2021, "the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has begun in Germany with the dominant circulation of the Omicron variant," the agency said in its weekly report on Thursday.

For the first time, the share of cases caused by Omicron predominated in Germany, accounting for 73 per cent in the first week of 2022, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The rapid increase in the share of Omicron among reported Covid-19 cases continued over the past week," the RKI added.

Unvaccinated patients accounted for the vast majority of all Covid-19 hospitalisations in intensive care units, according to the RKI and the German Intensive Care Availability Register (DIVI).

As of Thursday, 72.5 per cent of the country's population had been fully vaccinated, with at least 38.2 million booster shots administered, according to official figures. However, 20.9 million people in Germany are still unvaccinated.

Federal Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach reiterated on Thursday his support for compulsory Covid-19 vaccination in Germany, stressing that this was "the safest and fastest way out of the pandemic."