Germany past peak of omicron wave, health minister says

BERLIN (AA) - Germany has passed the peak of the omicron wave of the coronavirus, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said Tuesday.

“The peak of the omicron wave has passed - pretty much on the day I predicted a month ago,” he told the Bild newspaper, adding that authorities will begin discussions on cautious relaxation steps.

The seven-day average of daily coronavirus infections has dropped to around 180,000, confirming a trend of declining numbers since last week.

Germany registered a record of 248.838 cases Feb. 4, nearly two weeks after health authorities confirmed that the omicron variant became the dominant strain in the country.

The highly infectious variant fueled an unprecedented surge in new infections but the majority of omicron cases have been mild, not requiring hospitalization.

On Tuesday, 1,720 new patients were admitted to hospitals, while nearly 2,500 patients were receiving treatment in intensive care units (ICUs). More than 3,000 ICU beds were free, according to figures by the DIVI association for emergency medicine.

Germany is among the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic in Western Europe and it has recorded one of the highest caseloads in the region, behind France, the UK and Italy.

The country of 83 million has reported more than 12.5 million infections and nearly 120,250 deaths since the start of the pandemic.