The measures taken in Germany during the first wave of the corona virus epidemic continued to be considered ideal. The death toll from the outbreak of the epidemic in Germany and the COVID-19 has been much lower than in other Western European countries.
However, now the situation is completely different during the second wave. The last month of 2020 proved to be the deadliest month ever.
The rapidly deteriorating situation can also be gauged from the fact that the death toll in December was three times higher than in November.
From December 2 to January 1, 16,718 patients died from COVID-19, according to the Robert Koch Institute of Germany. It should be noted that in Germany, the data of COVID-19 is released the next day.
Throughout the year 2020, 33,071 cases of the coronavirus were fatal in Germany. In other words, more than the total number of patients who died in the remaining months of the year died in the month of December alone.
Outbreaks appear to be exacerbated during this time
Three months ago, only 198 people died in September, but the 24 hours on December 30 proved fatal for 1,129 patients.
In September alone, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed concern that the number of daily cases of corona virus in Germany could exceed 19,000 by Christmas.
The real situation turned out to be much worse. On Christmas Eve, 32,195 cases of corona were reported in Germany. That number is 70 percent higher than Chancellor Merkel’s concerns.
A total of 1,719,737 cases were reported in Germany during the year 2020, of which 675,188 cases were reported in December alone. The positive results of the lockdown and the concern of the doctors.
The German federal government and the federal states were monitoring the situation and strict measures were being taken at the local level according to the regional situation. Markets and shops were kept open due to Christmas and New Year holidays. But due to the rapidly deteriorating situation, a nationwide lockdown was imposed from December 16 and will continue till January 10.
These measures have reduced the spread of the coronavirus in some federal states of Germany, but have not stopped the spread of the epidemic in the most affected states, such as Bavaria and Saxony.
In this situation, German doctors’ organizations have appealed to the government to introduce more drastic measures in view of the enormous burden on the country’s health system and to extend the lockdown.
The federal ministers will take stock of the current situation and formulate a plan of action at their meeting on Tuesday next week.
A vaccine campaign has been launched in Germany before the start of the new year 2021. Vaccines are being provided to the elderly and medical staff at an early stage. However, due to low availability of vaccines, the situation is not expected to improve much during the first quarter of the new year 2021.
