Skyrocketing Corona Infection Numbers in Berlin, New Restrictions to be Implemented

Berlin’s Seven Day Incidence has reached 737.2, which is an all-time high. In one of the city’s twelve districts the Incidence level exceeds 1,100. The Senate intends to react right now.

Berlin, January 11th, 2022 (The Berlin Spectator) — The infection situation is catastrophic. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the German capital’s Incidence is now 737.2. This kind of level has been seen in Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia, but not in Berlin. Its Neukölln district is the city state’s hotspot, with an Incidence of 1,114.3. In all of Germany, only Bremen’s Incidence is worse. It stood at 1,260.0 this morning.

Kreuzberg and Mitte

In other parts of Berlin, the numbers do not look much better. In Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg the Incidence is 916.9, for the Mitte district the RKI reported a level of 824.4. Spandau stands at 813.8, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf at 792.2 and Tempelhof-Schöneberg at 785.8. Reinickendorf is above 750 as well, Panko at 741.7, and the rest of the city looks bad as well. The bad news is that things will get worse, because of the Omicron wave that is building up right now. Berlin’s Health Senator Ulrike Grote told the ‘Morgenpost’ daily, the infection numbers would increase further.

According to her, the Berlin Senate will discuss the latest decisions that were taken by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the First Ministers on Friday and implement new rules this week. At the latest Corona conference, the participants had decided to tighten the restrictions for restaurants, cafés and pubs. Persons who were vaccinated against Corona twice and those who recently recovered from COVID-19 will need negative Corona tests as well if they want to enter establishments of this kind. Only individuals who got booster shots will have the right to walk in there without tests.

Long Waiting Lines

Berlin will likely adopt those new rules when the new Senate convenes today. The same applies to the new quarantine regulations. For infected persons and those who were in contact with infected individuals, the time they have to be in quarantine is supposed to be shorted from 14 to 10 days. Adults will be able to bring it down to 7 days with negative Corona tests. As Senator Ulrike Grote said in the interview with the ‘Morgenpost’, Berlin intends to put this rule in place as well. Also, FFP2 standard masks will probably become mandatory in public transport.

The Senator conceded Berlin would not be able to trace back all infections to their sources anymore because of the high numbers. The state’s official Corona test stations have already reached their limits. Even on Sunday, long waiting lines were seen at several of them. Last week, some Berliners who wanted to get tested and had waited in the cold for hours were sent back home without tests.

National Infection Numbers

Germany’s national Seven Day Incidence keeps on increasing too. This morning, 714 days after the very first Corona case was reported in Germany, it reached 387.9. There are more than 45,000 new Corona cases today. In the past 24 hours, 322 COVID-19 patients died.

Looking for the daily Corona update for Germany? Find it here.
ALL CORONA CHRONOLOGIES:
Corona Chronology for Germany, 2022 (from Dec. 22nd, 2021)
Corona Chronology for Germany, 2021
Corona Chronology for Germany, 2020

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