After the previous high on Monday, the nationwide seven-day incidence of new corona infections has increased further.
As the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Tuesday morning, citing data from the health authorities, the value increased to 213.7 after the previous day, at 201.1, the highest level since the start of the pandemic in Germany had been reported.
Saxony has the highest incidence of the federal states with a value of 483.7, followed by Thuringia (439.3) and Bavaria (348.0).
The lowest incidences are in Schleswig-Holstein (77.0), Bremen (87.8) and Lower Saxony (103.1).
The seven-day incidence indicates the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days.
The high until November 7, 2021 was reached on December 22, 2020 at 197.6.
At that time, however, far fewer people were vaccinated in Germany.
In the months that followed, the incidence fell again, falling below a hundred on May 14, 2021;
on October 23, the value was in the three-digit range for the first time and has climbed steadily since then.
According to the latest information from the RKI, 21,832 new coronavirus infections and 169 new deaths related to the virus were recorded within 24 hours.
A week ago there were 10,813 infections and 81 deaths.
The total number of registered cases of infection in Germany since the beginning of the pandemic rose to 4,804,378, the total number of recorded deaths in connection with a corona infection to 96,727.
The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days - the most important parameter for a possible tightening of the corona restrictions - was given by the RKI on Monday as 3.93 (Friday: 3.91).
With the indicator it must be taken into account that hospital admissions are sometimes reported with delay.
A nationwide threshold value from when the situation can be viewed critically is not provided for the incidence of hospitalization, among other things because of large regional differences.
The previous high was around 15.5 around the past Christmas season.
Association of cities and municipalities calls for free corona tests
The CSU in the Bundestag rejects the plans of the SPD, Greens and FDP to end the epidemic situation in view of the increasing numbers of infections as too risky.
"An end to the epidemic situation without a comprehensive alternative protection concept harbors the risk of an unchecked drive into corona chaos," said CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt of the newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine.
At the end of October, the SPD, Greens and FDP announced that they wanted to let the epidemic situation of national scope, the nationwide state of emergency corona, expire on November 25th.
The proposals in the planned draft law to replace the epidemic situation did not go far enough. The CSU announced resistance to the plans. With increasing numbers of hospitalizations, more options are needed. "To end the epidemic situation politically without naming real, adequate alternatives, while hospitalization is actually increasing, is a signal of lack of plan."
Meanwhile, the German cities and municipalities are calling on politicians to make free corona tests possible again for citizens across the board and to bear the costs for them. “In view of the very dynamic infection process and the steadily increasing incidence values, it is important to make a nationwide range of free rapid tests available to everyone again. This can help to identify infections, which in vaccinated persons can often have very mild symptoms or even without symptoms, and to break the chains of infection. We expect the federal government to cover the costs for this offer, as in the spring, and to enable citizens to be tested several times a week for free, "said the chief executive of the German Association of Cities and Towns, Gerd Landsberg,of the Düsseldorf Rheinische Post.
Landsberg also spoke out in favor of a significantly higher vaccination rate.
“In order to make vaccination offers quicker and less complicated, it can make sense to offer more vaccination offers close to home, for example with mobile teams, vaccination buses or vaccination days in certain facilities.
Reopening the major vaccination centers would probably take too much lead time, but we need to be able to act quickly now.
The fourth wave can only be broken if, moreover, all citizens consistently observe the rules of distance and hygiene and help to protect themselves and others. "