An increasing number of people in Germany are still falling ill with the flu. All age groups are affected, according to a report by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) published overnight and covering the week ending February 4th.
The illnesses led to “a high number of doctor visits and hospitalizations.” For the past week, almost 31,600 confirmed laboratory cases have been transmitted to the RKI. 16 percent of those affected went to hospital. A total of around 102,000 flu cases have been reported to the experts since October. It can be assumed that the number of unreported cases is high.
The RSV wave (respiratory syncytial virus) also continues to determine the infection rate in Germany. “Small children are particularly affected by hospital admission with RSV infection,” wrote the RKI.
In older people, influenza infections and Covid-19 infections are much less common and lead to serious illnesses. Overall, however, the reporting numbers for Corona continue to decline and are significantly below the reported flu cases. The RKI estimates the number of acute respiratory illnesses to be around 6.1 million last week, regardless of a doctor’s visit.
ARE weekly report RKI (4/2024)
