The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported the nationwide seven-day incidence as of Tuesday morning at 68.3. That's according to figures reflecting the 4:00 a.m. RKI dashboard. On Tuesday of the previous week, the figure for new Corona infections per 100,000 population had been 87.9.

However, this information only provides a very incomplete picture of the infection figures. For some time, experts have been assuming a high number of cases not recorded by the RKI - mainly because by far not all infected persons have a PCR test done. However, only positive PCR tests count in the statistics. In addition, subsequent reports and transmission problems can lead to distortion of individual daily values.

Within one day, public health authorities in Germany last reported 16,072 new Corona infections (previous week: 17,222) and 141 deaths (previous week: 190) to the RKI. Comparisons of the data are again only possible to a limited extent due to testing behavior, late reports and transmission problems. The number of registered new infections and deaths generally fluctuates significantly from weekday to weekday, as many federal states do not transmit to the RKI, particularly at weekends, and subsequently report their cases in the course of the week.

The RKI counted 37,684,456 confirmed infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic, but the actual total is likely much higher because many infections are not detected or reported.

Infection with the omicron variant of the coronavirus can cause certain symptoms. Researchers have found out how long one is contagious after an infection with the corona variant. From now on, anyone who wants to be "free-tested" as a result of an infection will have to pay attention to a few things: The Corona test is no longer free of charge.

Image by Gerd Altmann