Carnival celebrations seem to have led to more proven corona infections, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Incidence values had increased in regions "with stronger carnival activities", according to the RKI weekly report of Thursday evening. Accordingly, the nationwide increase in incidence continued last week at a further low level: it was estimated at 14 percent compared to the week before.
According to the report, however, the values rose particularly strongly in Rhineland-Palatinate (36 percent), North Rhine-Westphalia (35 percent) and Saarland (34 percent) as well as in the age group 20 to 29 years. This information refers only to laboratory-confirmed corona cases.
So far, the development has not been accompanied by any very noticeable changes in hospital admissions. The number of doctor visits for acute respiratory diseases remained stable last week and was in the range of the years before the pandemic, it said.
Furthermore, very old people aged 80 and over are most affected by severe Covid-19 disease courses and deaths. With regard to the virus variants that have increasingly spread in recent times, the RKI notes that no increased disease severity is still observed.