"Presumably at the end of winter, as it is sometimes cynically said, almost everyone will be vaccinated, cured or dead" due to the spread of the Delta variant "very, very contagious", ruled the minister, calling for a again the Germans to be vaccinated "urgently" in the face of an explosion of cases of coronavirus in recent weeks.
Germany, especially the southern and eastern regions, has been hit hard by a new wave of contaminations that experts and politicians attribute in particular to a vaccination rate (68%) among the lowest in Western Europe.
Faced with the resurgence of the virus, which has already killed more than 99,000 people in the country since its appearance, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel and her probable successor Olaf Scholz decided on Thursday to tighten restrictions for the unvaccinated while excluding a vaccination compulsory for the entire population.
"We currently have a fourth wave, we have a very, very difficult situation in many hospitals in Germany," said Spahn at a press conference.
Covid-19: the incidence in Germany AFP
"We are seeing this wave gradually spreading west," he added as intensive care units in hospitals are reaching saturation point, in particular due to a lack of personnel.
In recent days, Germany has recorded numbers of infections unmatched since the start of the pandemic, surpassing the threshold of 65,000 in 24 hours last week.
On Monday the 7-day incidence rate was 386.5, a record.
Angela Merkel, who is about to step down from power, lamented a “highly dramatic” fourth wave as German leaders urged drastically limiting the social life of the unvaccinated.
© 2021 AFP