Germany sees highest infection rate since pandemic’s start

Germany is currently seeing its highest rate of COVID-19 infection since the pandemic began.

The country’s seven-day incident rate — a statistic that measures the number of people per 100,000 who come down with the virus in the last week — increased to 201.1 on Monday, exceeding the previous record of 197.6 that was set last December, Reuters reported, citing data from the Robert Koch Institute.

On Monday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 15,513 from 4,767,033 to 4,782,546, according to Reuters. The number of deaths in the country also spiked by 33 to 96,558.

Germany has been forced to transfer some patients to facilities in different regions due to strained hospitals, according to the news wire.

Markus Soeder, the state premier of Bavaria, is now urging officials to take increased action after the incidence rate broke its previous record, according to Reuters. He is reportedly calling on states and the federal government to coordinate when it comes to their separate strategies, and urging officials to reopen vaccination centers and reintroduce free testing — which was previously eliminated as a way to encourage individuals to get vaccinated.

The record infection rate in Germany was reported just days after the country shattered its record for the most new COVID-19 infections, reaching a pandemic high.

On Thursday, the Robert Koch Institute revealed that 33,949 new COVID-19 cases had been reported in the previous 24 hours, which exceeded the previous record of 33,777 which was reached in December 2020.

Officials are now looking into how to tame the spread of the virus as the world hit the 18-month mark of the pandemic, according to Reuters, citing the daily newspaper Die Welt.

The trio of parties in Germany that are working towards creating a coalition government by the beginning of next month that will reportedly write up proposals that detail the country’s response to a fourth wave of the pandemic.

That proposition will reportedly include resuming free testing in the country.