Germany sets new daily record with over 235,000 virus cases

BERLIN (AA) – Germany’s daily coronavirus cases surged to a new record of more than 235,000 on Thursday.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country’s disease control agency, confirmed 236,120 new COVID-19 cases and 164 coronavirus-related fatalities over the past day.

It marked the second straight day of record figures in Germany, as authorities reported 208,498 infections on Wednesday.

The highly infectious omicron variant has been the main reason behind the surge, accounting for more than 95% of all new infections, according to the RKI.

Health authorities estimate that currently more than 2.4 million – 2,435,300 – people are sick with COVID-19 in Germany, another all-time high for the country.

Despite the alarming rise in infections over the past two weeks, most of the cases have been mild so far, not requiring hospitalization.

Germany’s hospitalization rate stands at 4.77 per 100,000 residents, much lower than figures seen in previous waves of the pandemic.

As of Wednesday, 2,307 patients were receiving treatment in intensive care units, and nearly 3,000 beds were free.

However, health officials are warning that the rapid spread of omicron could still overwhelm the healthcare system if cases continue to climb dramatically.

Experts say new infections are likely to increase in the coming days and hit a peak around mid-February.

Germany is among the countries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in Western Europe, with one of the highest caseloads in the region, behind France, the UK and Italy.

The number of cases in the country of 83 million has surpassed 10.4 million, along with nearly 118,300 related deaths.​​​​​​​