The nationwide corona case numbers have been falling for two weeks, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has steadily lower incidences.

Within two weeks, the number of confirmed new infections fell from just under 13,000 per day to a little more than 9,700.

The seven-day incidence fell from 89 to 63 cases per 100,000 population.

And the incidence of those hospitalized fell from 1.95 cases per 100,000 population to 1.58.

The question remains: why is it going so well right now?

Kim Bjorn Becker

Editor in politics.

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First of all, a look at the vaccination rate is obvious. The last two weeks of the German vaccination campaign have indeed brought something, but the size of the change is modest - the rate of those fully vaccinated rose by less than two points from 62 to 63.7 percent. The fact that fewer infections are reported may also have to do with less testing. This has been the case for the past few weeks, but there, too, the difference is small. The Association of Medical Laboratories reported just under 860,000 requested PCR tests for the past week, three percent less than in the previous week. At that time, almost 883,000 tests were carried out. The positive rate fell from 8.4 to 7.9 percent - another indication that the number of undetected infections is falling,the pandemic's momentum is therefore likely to decrease further.

He sees no reason to give the all-clear

The RKI attributes the decline in the number of infections to various developments.

The authority points out that the numbers are falling, especially in the densely populated West Germany, while they have risen significantly in the east.

"The current development could be due to a decrease in summer travel, a decrease in infections diagnosed at the beginning of school and against the background of the vaccination quota achieved and the introduction of the 2-G and 3-G rules in many areas," writes the Institute in its latest assessment of the situation.

So has the country overcome a wave of infections brought in from abroad, which were noticed, among other things, by the compulsory school tests?

The Heidelberg virologist Ralf Bartenschlager thinks that is at least plausible. Last year, too, the numbers fell for a while at the beginning of autumn, he says. Since no vaccinations or broad test concepts were available at that time, the doctor suspects those returning from the journey. “The question now is whether the decline will continue or whether the numbers will go up again in two to three weeks,” Bartenschlager told the FAZ. “If you stay down, you could assume that vaccinations, test concepts and 2-G / 3 -G rules apply. "

He sees no reason to give the all-clear.

"The most problematic thing is that the infections are gradually moving back into the vulnerable, older groups of people." RKI data show that since the beginning of September more and more older people have been infected with the virus.

Further RKI data suggest that infections while on vacation could have triggered the increase in numbers up to mid-September.

Accordingly, the number of infections abroad has recently dropped significantly.

At the end of August, the authorities reported almost 9200 cases per week, the values ​​have since dropped significantly to only 2000 infections.

Infections mainly occurred in Turkey, Croatia and Italy.