Unvaccinated people lead Covid 4th wave in Germany: Report

The exponential surge in Covid-19 cases in Germany is mostly led by unvaccinated people, multiple reports have said as the country is reeling under a new wave of the pandemic. According to a report by the New York Times, Covid-19 patients in Germany have tripled in recent weeks. Out of this, nearly half of them are on ventilators and "every single one of them is unvaccinated," it reported.

The country on Thursday saw a jump of more than 50,000 cases in a single day for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Cases surged by a record 50,196 and the seven-day incidence rate per 100,000 people climbed to 249.1, according to the latest daily data from the RKI public-health institute. Deaths rose by 235 to a total of 97,198.

For Germany, it is unprecedented as it was one of the few countries that managed to keep the virus under control with its widespread testing and treatment.

However, with the country battling a political limbo, a combination of factors including the slow rollout of vaccines have led to the surge in daily Covid cases.

While many of the unvaccinated are in age groups that are statistically likely to experience less severe cases of Covid-19, they can pass the virus to older people with weaker immune systems, who can then end up in intensive care even with vaccination.

On Thursday, the outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel said, people who are still not vaccinated as the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic takes hold in Germany must understand they have a duty to the rest of society to protect others.

Olaf Scholz, who aims to succeed Merkel early next month, has meanwhile asked the country to be "winter-proofed" against the disease, and it will be mostly up to state governments to decide which measures and restrictions are needed in their region.

She also asserted that "Many fewer vaccinated people are affected by the infection than those who haven't been inoculated."