BERLIN, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of sick days taken by employees in Germany is on a steady increase primarily for respiratory diseases, such as COVID-19, influenza or pneumonia, Barmer, one of the country's largest health insurers, said on Tuesday.
At the beginning of October, around 410 out of 10,000 German employees were on sick leave due to such diseases, the Barmer Institute for Health System Research (bifg) said.
This figure was more than 100 percent higher than in early September, according to the institute. COVID-19 accounted for almost a third of all sick leaves for respiratory tract diseases in Europe's largest economy.
Germany's Professional Association of Pediatricians (BVKJ) also reported a high number of such cases, but stressed they were mostly harmless viral infections of the upper respiratory tract.
"We believe this is a catch-up effect. The infections that were not passed through due to the COVID-19 protective measures are now catching up," BVKJ spokesperson Jakob Maske told Xinhua on Tuesday.
Since the beginning of the month, German states have been authorized to set individual COVID-19 measures. There are only a few exceptions, such as a nationwide FFP2 mask mandate on long-distance trains and when entering doctors' offices.
COVID-19 figures in Germany have started to decline after peaking in mid-October, when the nationwide seven-day incidence rate climbed to nearly 800 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.
On Tuesday, the seven-day incidence rate decreased further to 570, down from 688 one week earlier, according to the RKI. The number of daily infections fell to around 115,500, around 35,000 less than a week ago.
The German government continues to run advertising campaigns to promote vaccination. "We have every opportunity to get through this winter well, thanks to the adapted vaccines. We should use them," Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach said when presenting the latest campaign.
Of the 69.4 million adults in Germany aged 18 or older, around 85 percent are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Almost 73 percent of them have received one booster vaccine and around 14 percent two booster shots, according to official figures. ■
