Covid-19 observed mainly in spring and October, heat records in summer and an unusually high incidence of respiratory diseases towards the end of the year
Mortality in Germany was almost back to normal at the beginning of 2022, following exceptionally high death figures at the end of 2021. In January and February, death figures were 5% and 1%, respectively, above the median values of the years 2018 to 2021 for these months. Flu activity and the number of deaths significantly decreased in the course of March in most of the years before the pandemic. Since this effect was delayed until April in 2022, the death figures in March (+8%) were much higher compared with the previous years than in February. The continuing high incidence of Covid-19 deaths in that time may be one explanation for the above-average mortality figures still observed in April (+7%) and May (+8%).
Compared with earlier months, death figures were much higher than the median values of the previous years (+9 to +13%) in the summer months from June to August, in which heat records were broken. At +25%, death figures were particularly high in Week 29 (18 to 24 July). That was an exceptionally hot week. However, figures significantly exceeding the comparative values were also recorded in some of the cooler weeks of the summer months. Covid-19 deaths, too, rose during that time until the end of July and then decreased in August.
In September and October, the mortality figures were 12% and 20%, respectively, above the comparative figures of the previous years. Covid-19 deaths increased once more from the beginning of September to the middle of October, but not to the same extent as total death figures. In November, the difference from the median of the previous years was lower (+8%) and the number of Covid-19 deaths declined again. The death figures observed in December were again markedly above the comparative figure (+23%), with the most significant increase (+38%) recorded in Week 51 (19 to 25 December). According to the Weekly Influenza Report of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the incidence of respiratory diseases in general from November onwards exceeded the peak of serious waves of influenza in the previous years. Approximately 115,000 deaths were recorded in December 2022, a figure above the level reached in previous flu waves.
