Germany hits record COVID-19 tally as Europe declared global 'epicenter' despite vaccines

In what the health officials are calling “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Germany’s coronavirus infection rate on Monday shot up to an alarming all-time high with 201.1 new cases per 100,000 as Europe, once again, turned into the global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) made appeals for any citizen to come forward and get the COVID-19 vaccine booster shot in case they were vaccinated at least six months ago. At a two-day summit in Bavaria where health ministers from at least the 16 German states were present, Spahn said that Germany's COVID-19 situation had spiralled into a “very difficult period,” German broadcasters reported. 

Germany’s seven-day incidence rate reached a record high with respect to the number of people infected per 100,000 spiked to 201.1, which was still higher than 197.6 recorded in December last year, Associated Press reported, citing the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases. The vaccination rate across the European country flatlined as the rate of hospitalization dramatically shot up. “The pandemic is far from over,” Spahn reportedly warned. 

“We are currently experiencing a pandemic of the unvaccinated, which is massive. There would be fewer coronavirus patients on intensive care units if more people would let themselves be vaccinated,” Germany’s health minister told the conference as hospitals across Germany were stretched to their maximum capacity with 2,220 patients in intensive care beds, highest since June. 

4th wave developing 'exactly how we feared,' says RKI's president

As many as 666 COVID-19 related deaths were registered in the last 7 days as the hyper contagious Delta variant circulated across the European nation. “The fourth wave is developing in exactly the way we feared, because not enough people have received the vaccine,” president of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper. Just 66% of the total 83 million population in Germany has been vaccinated against the COVID-19, the lowest compared with any other country across Europe. Speaking with Deutschlandfunk radio, Bavaria state premier Markus Soeder said that tougher and new measures were needed to bring the raging peak from the delta variant under control.