Covid admissions to ICU drop to new low in Europe despite a rise in cases

THE number of intensive care beds occupied by Covid-19 patients has hit a new low in Germany — despite an increase in recorded cases over recent weeks. The pattern is similar to that seen in other Europe countries, including Ireland.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s official disease control body, confirmed in its daily report on Friday evening that 230 intensive care beds were currently being occupied by coronavirus patients — less than one per cent of the total number of ICU beds.

It marks the continuation of a decline in the need for intensive care among coronavirus patients since early

April, when close to 3,000 of the country’s ICU beds were taken by the virus.

The drop in serious cases comes despite an uptick in daily cases since mid-July from around 400 to more than 1,400 today, with the Robert Koch Institute describing the trend as “very concerning”.

That serious symptoms in Germany are dropping despite an overall rise in positive test results is backed up by figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention.

These put hospital admissions per 100,000 people for the week of August 3-9 at lower than the first week of February, when the virus had barely gained a foothold in most Continental European countries. Although a lag between a rise in cases and hospitalisations is to be expected, the steady increase over three weeks should have made a mark on hospitalisation figures by now.

The Institute says that pneumonia tends to occur in serious cases during the second week after infection.

Germany’s disease agency has not yet provided an explanation for why the rise in positive tests has not led to an increase in hospital admissions. It did not respond to a request from reporters for comment.

However, the Institute has warned that the number of occupied beds “can rapidly increase locally and affect the public health system”.

One possible explanation for part of the discrepancy between cases and hospitalisations lies in the fact that Germany has been testing more. Since August 8, mandatory PCR (Covid) swabs for those arriving from “risk areas” have been in place at all borders in Germany.

Meanwhile, Bavaria has introduced tests for anyone who wants one.

In the week up to August 9, some 672,000 tests were carried out nationwide, a 100,000 increase on the previous week and up 200,000 on the start of July. Here in Ireland, about 41,000 tests were carried out last week.

The situation in intensive care units is similar in other European countries. Holland and France do not yet show a significant increase in ICU occupancy.