The seven-day incidence has risen again.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Wednesday morning, it was 61.3.

The previous day the value was 58.0, a week ago it was 40.8.

The health authorities in Germany reported 11,561 new corona infections to the RKI within one day.

This is evident from the numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 4:00 a.m.

A week ago, the value for Germany was 8,324 infections.

According to the new information, 39 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours.

A week ago there were 22 deaths.

The RKI has counted 3,889,173 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections are not detected.

The incidence has so far been the basis for many corona restrictions in the pandemic, for example as part of the federal emergency brake that expired at the end of June.

In the future, other values ​​such as hospital admissions will also be given greater consideration.

The RKI stated the number of those who had recovered at 3,710,500.

The number of people who died with or with a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 92,061.

This Wednesday, the Bundestag is discussing the extension of the "epidemic situation of national scope" due to the corona pandemic.

The established situation gives the federal government the right to issue ordinances directly without the consent of the Bundesrat, for example on tests, vaccinations, occupational safety or entry.

In addition, according to the Infection Protection Act, specific measures such as mask compulsory or contact restrictions, which the federal states can set, relate to the determination of the “epidemic situation”.

Before the vote, the opposition criticized the extension requested by the coalition factions.

Criticism from the opposition

"When we asked, the federal government was unable to convincingly demonstrate to us that the health system is likely to be overburdened," said FDP party vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki of the editorial network in Germany. But this is the mandatory legal requirement for the extension of this emergency. "The fact that widespread restrictions on fundamental rights and the authorization to issue ordinances are justified with an exceptional situation that no longer exists is, with a probability bordering on certainty, constitutionally untenable."

Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt told the RND that an unchanged extension of the “epidemic situation” was wrong. "The pandemic is not over yet, we have to continue to be careful." Nevertheless, the vaccines make the situation different than it was in winter. "We now need a regulation that fits the new situation and takes into account the number of people who have been vaccinated, no business as usual". The prerequisites would have to be created "for a legally secure limited continuation of certain measures tailored to the current Covid 19 situation such as masks, AHA rules and tests".

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Ministers of the federal states had asked the Bundestag to “consider” extending the epidemic situation beyond September 11th.

The Bundestag last determined on June 11th that the special situation persists due to the corona pandemic.

At that time, the factions of AfD, FDP and Die Linke voted against it.

The vast majority of the government factions agreed, and a large part of the Greens voted yes despite criticism.

There is no debate about incidence as a yardstick

The planned move away from incidence as the sole yardstick for restrictions is not yet available for consultation this Wednesday. This new regulation in the Infection Protection Act could be decided in a further meeting before the federal election in September. The previous incidence value of 50, which is still anchored in the Infection Protection Act as a benchmark for stricter measures, is to be deleted according to the plans of the federal government because the vaccinations have improved the situation. In the future, the number of hospital admissions due to Covid-19 should be decisive. Which number or figures will actually lead to which measures is still open.

The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach considers further restrictions for unvaccinated people to be necessary in the event of severe infection.

"If the number of cases continues to rise so rapidly, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia, then it will be necessary to tighten the rules for unvaccinated people," he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

“This also includes a 2G rule that is as consistent as possible, at least in the areas where there is a very high risk.” This means that certain events are only accessible to vaccinated or convalescent people - but not to other people, even if they are have a negative corona test.

Hamburg with controversial model

The Hamburg Senate decided on a corresponding “option model” on Tuesday: restaurants, clubs, pubs and cultural institutions in Hamburg can almost completely use their capacities again from Saturday, provided that unvaccinated people are not allowed in. "3G" has been in effect in more and more federal states since Monday: access to many indoor public spaces is only granted to those who have been vaccinated, recovered or tested.