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Lockdown rules could soon be relaxed after the Covid-19 incidence rate fell below the crucial 100 case threshold. Photo: IMAGO / A. Friedrichs
Friday, May 7
On Friday there were 596 new Covid-19 infections reported in Berlin. The seven-day incidence currently stands at 98.6 cases per 100,000 people
Covid-19 incidence rate falls below 100
On Thursday Berlinâs Covid-19 incidence dropped below the crucial threshold of 100 cases per 100,000 people, paving the way for a less stringent lockdown. The seven-day average incidence rate currently stands at 98.6, while the R-value has fallen to 0.7. If the seven-day incidence remains below 100 for five consecutive days, current âemergency brakeâ rules â including the 10pm curfew and strict limits on gatherings â will fall away. Additionally, the Senat signalled this week that restaurants could reopen to outdoor diners if the decrease in the case rate continues.
Hospitals in Germany on the brink of collapse
Although coronavirus infections are rising dramatically and scientists and doctors are urgently warning of an overload of the health system, the federal and state governments continue their unscrupulous profits-before-lives policy. Even the completely inadequate federal “ emergency brake ” is being deliberately watered down and delayed. Now, hospitals are on the verge of being overloaded.
The situation in Thuringia is particularly dramatic. Hospitals in Jena and the hotspot Greiz, where the incidence level has been over 500 per 100,000 for weeks, can no longer treat coronavirus patients who need intensive care. Initially, five patients seriously ill with COVID-19 will be transferred to intensive care units in other German states, as Professor Michael Bauer, head physician of the Jena Clinic for Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, announced.
Doctors at Berlin's largest hospital have said that it will face serious strain on its capacity if a further rise in Covid-19 cases leads to similar rates of hospitalisation to those that were seen at the beginning of January.