The minister is concerned about the renewed increase in the number of infections in Germany.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin In view of the worsening corona situation, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) warned in drastic terms about the further course of the pandemic. “We are in a critical situation,” said Lauterbach on Friday in Berlin.
The reason he gave was the omicron sub-variant BA.2, which is becoming more and more important. “It’s a problem for hospital utilization and for people dying from Covid,” the minister said.
The situation is objectively worse than the mood in the country. 200 to 250 people would die every day. “We cannot be satisfied.”
The RKI reported a record number of new corona infections on Thursday: the authority registered 262,752 cases within 24 hours and thus more than 250,000 new infections in one day for the first time. On Friday, the number of new infections with the corona virus was 252,836.
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The sub-variant is “easier to transfer”, warned the President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, in Berlin. What is known so far about the omicron subvariant – and what is not.
How widespread is BA.2 in Germany?
According to the RKI, the proportion of BA.2 in new infections is growing continuously and is partly responsible for the renewed increase in Covid 19 cases. By the end of February, the proportion of the sub-variant in new infections had risen to 48 percent, according to the Corona weekly report on Thursday evening. The week before, the figure was still 38 percent.
What is the situation in the intensive care units?
According to the RKI, around 2000 Covid patients are currently being treated in the intensive care units. “The number is hardly going down,” said Wieler. In addition, more than 4,200 people have died of an infection in the past four weeks, and there are currently 1,000 deaths per week.
86 percent of the deceased are older than 70 years. “Far too many people are still getting seriously ill with Covid and too many people are still dying from this disease,” said Wieler. The infection pressure is still very high due to BA.2.
Does BA.2 make you more seriously ill?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), no increase in the severity of the disease has been observed with Covid disease, even if there were indications of this in animal experiments. However, the observations come from countries with many vaccinated and recovered such as South Africa, Great Britain and Denmark.
The virologist Christian Drosten recently said that he hopes for findings from Hong Kong, where many older people were very hesitant about the vaccination and where Omicron shows a high burden of disease in this group. In Germany, too, experts are particularly concerned about the relatively large group of older people without vaccination protection.
How does BA.2 affect the further course of infection?
Experts have feared for weeks that the spread of BA.2 could prolong the omicron wave and slow the decline in case numbers. The Berlin modeler Kai Nagel spoke of a superimposition of two waves: Below the flattening BA.1 wave, there are indications of a renewed increase due to the BA.2 subtype. The peak of the BA.2 wave is therefore not until the beginning of April.
Carsten Watzl, Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology, recently warned of a “corona-is-over” feeling when the corona protection measures are relaxed at the same time. “Of course, that makes it easier for the virus to infect more people again.”
Lauterbach: “Will not be able to get the pandemic under control in the fall without a general obligation to vaccinate”
Once the peak of the current wave has been reached, the incidences would fall slowly and remain at a higher level than last year until summer, Watzl suspects.
With what measures does politics react to the sub-variant?
First and foremost, most corona measures should fall from March 20th. According to a draft law for basic protection after the end of the restrictions, however, further intervention options in “hotspots” with a critical infection situation should be possible.
Read here: Which measures will apply from March 20th: Traffic light presents draft for Corona rules
Lauterbach said he expected such “hotspots” in many federal states because of the infection situation. The measures planned for the future would therefore have to be implemented very quickly in just a few days. He called on the state governments not to linger on criticizing the law, but to prepare for the implementation of the measures.
Several countries are calling for additional protections possible through the law. According to the draft, access restrictions (2G and 3G rule) and the obligation to wear masks in indoor areas such as shops and schools would be possible in the hotspots. However, rules such as the distance requirement would not be allowed.
With agency material.
More: Corona numbers at a record high – planned easing raises concerns about a new wave