Nearly all districts have to submit belated reports of infections

Senator for Health Ulrike Gote

According to Berlin's Senator for Health Ulrike Gote, the actual pandemic situation is even worse than the statistics show.

Many cases reported after the fact

"Today, based on the reported cases, we have a seven-day incidence of 962.7," the Green Party politician said on Tuesday (Jan. 18, 2022) after a Senate meeting on the issue. "But I assume that we are significantly above that." Senator Gote pointed out that one district (Marzahn-Hellersdorf) had not reported any data on Coronavirus cases at all in recent days because of technical problems. "This issue is now being processed," she announced. "Overall, there are many cases to be subsequently reported in almost all districts."

Peak of the wave not yet reached

Other federal states with high infection rates, such as Hamburg, Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein, do not expect to have reached the crest of the wave yet, Gote said. "I also expect that we still have a way to go here." However, Gote stated that the doubling time in the number of infections has lengthened in recent days. That means the wave is slowing down a little and the measures adopted so far are having an effect.

Number of cases still increasing

The wave of infections could not be stopped and prevented, Gote said. "However, this slowing down will hopefully have a positive effect for us with respect to our critical infrastructure, meaning that hospital capacities will not be exhausted as quickly as was feared." With regard to hospitals, she said she is still quite reassured, "but we are seeing cases increase here as well."