The number of corona cases in Germany reported to the RKI yesterday was 42,693.

There is a very strong increase compared to the previous week (which, however, relates to Ascension Day, when – with the exception of NRW – all federal states provided no or almost no case numbers).

But it is also true: This is now the third increase compared to the previous week after 35 declines in a row.

And it is also true: Even without the holiday effect, there are signs of a revival of the infection process:

According to the daily report on Thursday, the RKI estimate for the 7-day value of the reproduction number R is 1.09 – and thus significantly above 1 for the first time since mid-March.

It is unclear to what extent the BA.5 variant known from South Africa and Portugal is (jointly) responsible for this.

According to the RKI weekly report on Thursday evening, the proportion of BA.5 in calendar week 20 (from May 16) was 5.2 percent.

This number may seem small, but the proportion has now at least doubled for five consecutive weeks.

The 7-day corona incidence increases significantly, from 221 to 261.

The increase is the fourth in a row – and the strongest since the end of April.

The incidence is increasing in all 16 federal states.

It is rising particularly sharply in Schleswig-Holstein, where it is now 458.

Berlin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Baden-Württemberg are now all over 200 again.

450 corona deaths have been reported to the RKI so far this week.

That’s almost as many as last week at this point.

Every day we hear the new Corona case numbers. But what do they mean, where are we in the pandemic and what is the trend? Olaf Gersemann explains and evaluates the current figures briefly and concisely – every morning anew.

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