Germany: Public Healthcare are Collapsing – Many Vaccinated Doctors Are Falling Sick Due To SARS-CoV-2 BA.5 Infections

Summary (as of 05/07/2022, 10:00 AM)

• Yesterday, 147,489 new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases as well as 102 new deaths associated with COVID-19 were transmitted to the RKI in Germany. The national 7-day incidence is 687.7 cases per 100,000 population. The 7- day incidence in federal states lies between 1,052.1 cases per 100,000 population in Schleswig-Holstein and 296.8 per 100,000 population in Thuringia.
• Overall, +2,178 new hospitalisations with COVID-19 were reported, the 7-day incidence of hospitalised cases is 5.56 per 100,000 population.
• On 04/07/2022 (12:15 AM), 1,062 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units (ICU), +62 cases compared to the day before. The COVID-19 adult occupancy as a percentage of all operational adult intensive care beds is 5.1 %.⁴
• Since 26/12/2020, 182,926,984 vaccine doses have been administered in Germany. Overall, 77.8 % of the population in Germany have been vaccinated at least once.⁵ 76.2 % have received a complete course of vaccination against COVID-19. ⁶ 61.7 % have received a booster vaccination.⁷

The increasing loss of clinic staff due to the corona summer wave is causing concern among hospitals and doctors. “We have received reports from all federal states that individual wards and departments have to be deregistered due to a lack of staff,” said the CEO of the German Hospital Society (DKG), Gerald Gaß, the editorial network Germany (RND). 

At times, emergency admissions would also be canceled at the rescue control centers. “This situation worries us a lot with a view to the upcoming autumn,” said Gass.

The number of infections has risen sharply in recent weeks. The Robert Koch Institute gives the official number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days at around 687. Experts estimate the actual number to be about twice as high because many infected people no longer do a PCR test and are therefore not recorded.

Germany’s COVID-19 News outlets reported that even one hospital had to declare an emergency after more than 70 doctors and 200 nurses all fully vaccinated contracted symptomatic BA.5 infection. 

https://www.bild.de/bild-plus/ratgeber/2022/ratgeber/70-aerzte-und-200-pflegekraefte-infiziert-erster-corona-notstand-in-deutscher-kl-80580852.bild.html 

Germany’s health minister said on Sunday (Jul 3) he will push for more prescriptions of Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid by family doctors to reduce severe cases of the disease.

“A system involving family doctors will be prepared to administer this far too rarely-used COVID life saver more routinely,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday, adding that sufficient stockpiles were available.

The pill, which won conditional European marketing approval in January, is given to infected people who are at high risk of progression to severe illness.

In his tweet, Lauterbach mentioned trial results that the oral treatment course can cut the risk of hospitalisation in the elderly by 90 per cent, when taken early after infection.

Pfizer said on Thursday it is seeking full US approval for Paxlovid, which is currently available under an emergency use authorisation there.

Deaths and intensive care treatments after COVID-19 infections have been on the rise again in Germany since late June, driven by more infectious subvariants of Omicron, after falling steadily for about three months.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/covid-19-paxlovid-germany-move-boost-use-pill-severe-cases-2787596