The seven-day incidence of new corona infections in Germany has reached another high.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), it was 1176.8 nationwide on Monday morning.

On Sunday it was 1156.8, on Monday last week it was 840.3.

The incidence quantifies the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants over a period of seven days.

As the RKI announced, citing data from the health authorities, the number of new infections within 24 hours on Monday morning was 78,318 - around 24 percent more than a week ago.

As the RKI further announced, 61 other deaths in connection with the corona virus were also recorded on Monday.

There are still large regional differences in the seven-day incidence.

In Berlin the incidence is 1821.0 (in Berlin Tempelhof-Schoeneberg 2911.8).

In Saxony (678.5) and Thuringia (468.6) the incidence values ​​are much lower.

The lowest incidence is found in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Mayen-Koblenz with 184.8.

Districts that came first in previous corona waves are also at the bottom of the list, such as the LK Hildburghausen in Thuringia (391.0).

Debate about opening steps

According to the RKI, the health authorities have recorded a total of 9,815,533 cases of infection since the beginning of the pandemic.

The total number of registered corona deaths in Germany is now 117,786.

The RKI puts the number of people who have recovered from corona disease in Germany at around 7,622,400.

In November, the federal and state governments had defined the so-called hospitalization incidence as the decisive benchmark for tightening or relaxing the corona measures.

This value indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants are hospitalized within seven days because of a corona infection.

According to the latest RKI report, the hospitalization incidence nationwide on Friday was 4.72.

In the meantime, a debate about opening perspectives has begun and the call for a concept for lifting the restrictions is getting louder.

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) told the magazine “Der Spiegel”: “We may not yet have the omicron wave behind us, but we have to start working on when and under what conditions there can be gradual openings.” Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder believes that easing is possible soon.

The next round of federal/state votes in mid-February should still be awaited, says the CSU boss on ARD.

"I think we just have to go step by step." If the hospitals are not overburdened, freedoms should be given back to the citizens.

"Omicron is different from Delta," said Söder.

On the other hand, the Greens health politician Janosch Dahmen warned against opening steps too quickly.

There is no reason for that, said Dahmen of the German Press Agency.

You're not over the hill yet.

The hospitalization rate is now increasing again, there is no reason to give the all-clear.

If the situation worsens, it would be better to think about expanding existing protective measures such as 2G Plus rules.

The federal government's vaccination target for the end of January will probably be clearly missed.

According to RKI data from Saturday, up to and including Friday, 75.7 percent of people in Germany were given at least one vaccine dose.

The aim was to vaccinate 80 percent of the population against Corona at least once by the end of January.