The COVID-19 incidence rate has dropped slightly in Germany and Austria and stabilised in the Netherlands since the three countries introduced new measures to curb the spread of the virus, new data showed.
After becoming hot spots in a new wave of infections in western Europe, Austria went into a fourth full lockdown last week and the Netherlands and Germany imposed new restrictions.
Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported that 452.2 people per 100,000 were infected in the last week, down slightly from 452.4 on Monday. It was the first decline since early November.
Despite this, the number of new cases rose slightly compared to last week to 45,753, and another 388 deaths were recorded – the highest daily figure since early March. That bought the overall death toll to 101,344.
Austria reported 8,186 new infections on Tuesday. The incidence per 100,000 was at 936, down from a peak of 1,107 on Nov. 22.
Daily infections in Austria peaked above 15,000 the week before last. The previous highest peak was 9,586 in November 2020, when a national lockdown was ordered.
The Netherlands reported 21,443 new cases as new infections roughly stabilised at record levels in the past week, with testing facilities reaching maximum capacity.
About 886 cases per 100,000 inhabitants were registered in the week that ended Monday. That was up 3% from the previous week – the slowest weekly growth since early October.
Hospital admissions are still rising in all three countries.
via Reuters
