The omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to spread in Germany.

So far, 13,129 Covid 19 cases have been reported to the Robert Koch Institute, which are assigned to the variant.

According to a statement on Thursday, 2,686 more Omikron cases were reported than the previous day, an increase of 26 percent.

However, late registrations from the past few weeks are also included in the statistics.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has expressed concern about the dynamics of the spread of the Omikron variant. This was "not shown correctly in the official figures because of the test failures and reporting delays," said Lauterbach of the "Bild" newspaper. The Omikron dynamics cause him "great concern".

He is currently getting an overall picture of the Corona situation with the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and "numerous data sources from all over Germany". The RKI reported 10,443 cases of infection on Tuesday that go back to the Omikron variant of the coronavirus. This corresponded to an increase of 45 percent compared to the previous day and an increase of 3218 cases. The RKI had also pointed out that not all new corona cases are recorded over the holidays because many people are on vacation and numerous medical practices are closed.

The transport and logistics industry could face severe losses from the expected wave of Omikron infections. "If large parts of the population are actually infected by Omikron, then there will be major problems maintaining the supply chains," says Dirk Engelhardt, supervisory board and board spokesman for the logistics association BGL, the editorial network in Germany. He therefore considers a "transport pact" with the federal government to be necessary: ​​politicians may have to set priorities as to what should be transported as a matter of urgency.

In total, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 40,043 new corona infections within 24 hours on Thursday.

That is 5616 fewer cases than on Wednesday a week ago when 45,659 positive tests were reported.

The nationwide seven-day incidence drops to 205.5 from 215.6 the previous day.

The value indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants have been infected with the corona virus in the past seven days.

414 other people died related to the virus.

This increases the number of reported deaths within one day to 111,219.

In total, more than seven million corona tests have so far been positive in Germany.

The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was given by the RKI on Tuesday as 3.25 (Monday 3.26).

The RKI stated the number of people recovered on Wednesday at 6,277,400.

The number of people who died with or with a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 111,219.