German ICUs expect COVID peak to hit hospitals at Xmas

A coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infected patient from a Saxony hospital is transferred from an ambulance car to a Bundeswehr ambulance aircraft Airbus 310 Medevac to be flown to Cologne at the Dresden airport amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Dresden, Germany, December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Matthias Rietschel

Germany looks set to reach a peak of its fourth wave of COVID-19 infections by mid-December that could mean 6,000 intensive care beds will be occupied by Christmas, the country's association for intensive care medicine said on Wednesday.

Andreas Schuppert, a forecaster for the association, told a news conference he was "moderately optimistic" the peak in new cases would come in the next two weeks, but that would take time to feed through to hospitals.

A person enters a vaccination centre in the district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Berlin, Germany, December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Zuzanna Szymanska)