“We expect diagnostic and testing behaviour to return to the level seen in previous weeks towards the end of the first week of January, making the data in the second week of January comparable to the data of the previous weeks,” the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) told dpa.

The agency could not give a more exact time frame due to regional differences in testing, the statement said.

In reporting the daily case numbers of recent days, the RKI has pointed out that fewer infections are picked up on over Christmas and New Year. Many public health authorities are working with reduced staff, while fewer test centres are opening and the frequent testing conducted in schools has been put on pause due to the holidays.

While this leaves Germany partially in the dark regarding the scale of its current outbreak, one thing the nation can be sure about is the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, according to Dirk Brockmann of Berlin’s Humboldt University.

Brockmann, who sits on the RKI’s Infectious Disease Dynamics Group, pointed to noticeable increases in the number of confirmed and probable Omicron cases registered recently in Germany.

The professor warned the nation against falling into a false sense of security as general infection rates appear relatively low.

This data is of limited significance, as demonstrated by the situation in other countries, he said, adding, “Things can suddenly kick off very quickly and then very strongly.”