The nationwide seven-day incidence reported by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) exceeded the threshold of 600 for the first time.

The RKI gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Thursday morning as 638.8.

For comparison: the day before the value was 584.4.

A week ago, the nationwide incidence was 427.7, compared to 280.3 in the previous month.

The health authorities in Germany reported 133,536 new corona infections to the RKI within one day.

This is evident from numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5:01 a.m.

A week ago there were 81,417 infections.

Experts expect more and more cases that cannot be recorded, partly because laboratories and health authorities are increasingly reaching their capacity limits.

According to the new information, 234 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours.

A week ago there were 316 deaths.

The RKI has counted 8,320,386 infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections go undetected.

The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was 3.34 according to the RKI on Wednesday.

On Tuesday it was 3.17.

The RKI gave the number of recovered people on Thursday morning as 7,139,800.

The number of people who died from or involved a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 116,315.

Omikron is not yet filling the intensive care units

So far, however, the wave triggered by the Omicron virus variant has not been reflected in the intensive care units.

According to the medical association Divi, the number of corona patients there has fallen from around 5,000 to 2,664 since the first half of December.

At the moment, comparatively few older people who are particularly susceptible to severe courses are infected.

In the past few weeks, the number of cases has increased rapidly across Europe.

On Tuesday, France reported around 465,000 new corona infections within one day.

Most recently, the incidence value, i.e. the number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants within one week, was 3063 nationwide. In Great Britain, too, the incidence at times exceeded the 2000 mark. However, the numbers there are now falling again.

SPD is pushing for a quick decision on compulsory vaccination

Meanwhile, the SPD parliamentary group wants to campaign for a speedy decision in the Bundestag on compulsory vaccination at its closed meeting on Thursday. Overcoming the corona pandemic has "absolute priority", according to the draft of the parliamentary group leadership for a work program that is to be decided at the conference. “We will advance the parliamentary deliberations on compulsory vaccination quickly and with due diligence.” However, the paper does not mention a timetable.

It is planned, however, that after an “orientation debate” in the coming week, key points for a draft law will be presented from the ranks of the parliamentary group.

On this basis, parliamentarians from other groups should then discuss a joint group motion, which should be voted on by the end of March if possible.

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has spoken out in favor of entry into force in April or May.