UPDATE - Germany breaks COVID-19 daily case record for 2nd straight day

UPDATES WITH NEW DATA ON OMICRON CASES, HOSPITALIZATIONS; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK

BERLIN (AA) – With more than 81,000 new infections, Germany on Thursday reported its highest daily coronavirus cases for a second day in a row.

The Robert Koch Institute, the country’s disease control agency, confirmed 81,417 new infections and 316 fatalities in the past 24 hours.

Currently, the city-state of Bremen has the highest weekly incidence rate with 1,349 infections per 100,000 people, followed by the capital Berlin with 918 cases and the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein with 656 cases.

The more contagious omicron variant has triggered a new wave of infections in Germany this month, but most of the cases have been mild so far, not requiring hospitalization.

Germany’s hospitalization rate stood at 3.09 per 100,000 residents on Thursday, much lower than the figures seen in previous waves of the pandemic.

The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units also declined this week, according to figures by the DIVI association for emergency medicine.

Nearly 2,960 COVID-19 patients have been receiving treatment in intensive care units as of Thursday, and around 3,050 intensive care beds have remained available.

However, public health officials are warning that the heavily mutated omicron variant is spreading faster than previous strains, and the already stretched health system could be swamped if cases continue to climb dramatically in the coming days.

Authorities reported 16,004 new omicron cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of infections with the new variant to 134,302.

Experts say the actual number of omicron cases in Germany could be much higher, as the country sequences only a small proportion of positive tests.

Health departments have so far registered 58 omicron-related fatalities, and confirmed that 1,260 people infected with omicron were admitted to hospitals.