Corona incidence is falling: WHO publishes omicron assessment – new drug reaches Germany

The corona incidence in Germany has fallen sharply again. The WHO issues a new assessment of the omicron variant.

Update from February 23, 11:35 a.m .: Vaccination against the corona virus is progressing more slowly. On Tuesday, 148,000 doses were administered in Germany, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute on Wednesday (as of 9:07 a.m.). On Tuesday a week ago, more than 191,000 people had been vaccinated. The current number of days administered vaccinations is always provisional, since not all administered vaccination doses are reported immediately.

In the meantime, 75.2 percent of the population (at least 62.6 million people) have received basic protection, which usually requires two injections. 56.5 percent (47 million) also received a booster vaccination. 76.2 percent (63.4 million) have been vaccinated at least once. A large group of 23.8 percent of the population (19.8 million people) remains unvaccinated, according to the Department of Health’s immunization dashboard. However, no vaccine has been approved for 4.8 percent (four million) because they are four years old or younger.

Corona: New drug reaches Germany

Update from February 23, 11.15 a.m .: The omicron wave has been losing momentum for days, but the health authorities are still reporting more than 200,000 new infections to the RKI every day (see update from February 23, 6.15 a.m.). Although the currently widespread omicron variant does not necessarily promote severe disease progression, it is precisely these that could be influenced by a new drug in the future. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer started delivering the Covid 19 drug Paxlovid in Germany on Wednesday.

From the distribution center in Karlsruhe, the tablets went to pharmaceutical wholesalers, as a spokeswoman said. “Pharmacies can order the drug there if they have a doctor’s prescription and give it to patients.” The pill is considered to be very effective, especially for people with previous illnesses – for them it is said to reduce the risk of very serious illnesses by 89 percent. The fact that the active ingredient nirmatrelvir in the drug inhibits a Sars-CoV-2 protein is intended to stop the multiplication of the corona virus in the body.

According to Pfizer, the worldwide production and packaging of the drug takes place in Freiburg. According to the spokeswoman, one million packs are planned for Germany this year, of which around 35 percent are to be delivered in the first half of the year. The contents of one pack are enough for one patient.

Update from February 23, 10.35 a.m .: In rare cases it is possible to be infected with two different subvariants of the omicron mutation one after the other. According to a study, one group is apparently particularly often affected.

Corona in Germany: Incidence falls again – RKI reports almost 210,000 new infections

Update from February 23, 6:15 a.m .: The seven-day incidence has fallen again. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), it was 1278.9 on Wednesday morning. For comparison: the day before the value was 1306.8. A week ago, the nationwide incidence was 1401.0 (previous month: 806.8). The health authorities reported 209,052 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. A week ago there were 219,972 infections.

Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. One reason is the limited capacity of health authorities, for example, and contacts are often only tracked to a limited extent. In addition, according to the ALM laboratory association, there is now a larger number of people whose infection is no longer confirmed by a PCR test – these infections are therefore not included in the official statistics.

According to the new information, 299 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 247 deaths. The RKI gave the hospitalization incidence on Tuesday at 6.21 (Monday: 6.06). Among them are many people with a positive corona test who have another main illness.

Corona-News: Omicron variant more dangerous than delta? WHO publishes assessment

Update from February 22, 8:20 p.m .: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the sub-variant of the Omicron BA.2 coronavirus does not lead to more serious illnesses than the BA.1 type, which has been prevalent worldwide to date. “We see no difference (…) in terms of the risk of hospitalization,” said WHO expert Maria Van Kerkhove on Tuesday. The results of an initially unchecked study with hamsters had suggested that the pathogen was more dangerous.

The BA.1 subvariant of Omicron, which is currently dominant in most parts of the world, has been shown to lead to severe disease progression much less frequently than previously dominant corona pathogens such as Delta or Alpha. Because it is also significantly more contagious, the spread of omicron led to a massive increase in the number of cases. However, the health systems in most countries did not reach their capacity limits.

Initial reports of a supposedly higher risk of severe courses with Omikron BA.2 had caused concern. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had also warned the prime ministers of the federal states against hasty relaxation of the corona measures, referring to the BA.2 variant. BA.2 had recently spread in Europe, especially in Denmark.

WHO doctor Van Kerkhove has now given the all-clear in this regard. And she also had positive things to report on another point: “If we see a decrease in cases in countries, BA.2 does not appear to lead to a resurgence.” This is important because it suggests that an infection with one of the types probably protects against renewed infection at least for a while.

New Corona regulation effective immediately: Significant travel simplifications in the EU

Update from February 22nd, 1:54 p.m .: Ease of travel within the EU: The EU-wide proof of a survived corona infection will also be available in the future after a positive quick test. However, this must have been carried out by suitably qualified personnel and must be listed on the joint EU list of rapid antigen tests for Covid-19, the EU Commission announced on Tuesday. EU countries can also issue these certificates retrospectively based on tests conducted from October 1.

EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides stressed that this could alleviate some of the considerable pressure on national screening capacities. In the course of the omicron wave, there were bottlenecks in PCR tests in Germany, for example. The new rules apply immediately. Countries like Germany can issue recovery certificates based on rapid antigen tests as soon as they are ready, according to the EU Commission.

The EU certificates for vaccinations, convalescence and recent tests can be stored digitally on the smartphone. In many countries, including those outside the European Union, you can use a QR code to prove that you meet certain entry requirements.

Lauterbach announces: Corona bonus for nurses will come quickly

Update from February 22, 11:38 a.m .: According to Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, the planned corona bonus due to special stresses in the pandemic should be given to nurses in hospitals and in long-term care. Half of the payments should be distributed, as the SPD politician made clear on Tuesday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. “The bonus comes relatively quickly now. But that is not all, working conditions must improve overall.”

The traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP had announced that there should be a bonus for nursing staff. The government wants to provide one billion euros for this and raise the tax exemption for bonus payments to 3,000 euros. Lauterbach said that a corresponding draft had now been developed and should be submitted to the Bundestag. The bonus should go to the nurses because they were the focus of the Corona crisis and not to other professional groups. For the time being, he did not give any further details.

The newspapers of the Funke media group (Tuesday) reported that a key issues paper envisages a bonus of up to 550 euros for full-time employees in geriatric care. The staggered bonus should be paid out from June 30th and no later than December 31st. For nurses in clinics, a bonus is planned for hospitals that treated more than ten Covid cases with artificial respiration in 2021. These are 837 clinics that take care of 95 percent of all corona patients. Clinic operators and employee representatives should decide together who will receive premiums and how much. The bonus should primarily be aimed at workers in bedside care. According to this, around 280,000 nurses could get money.

Poor record at Omikron: Munich virologist warns of false rapid tests – and makes demands

Update from February 22, 8.50 a.m .: Many common rapid corona tests often do not detect an omicron infection. Researchers led by the Munich virologist Oliver Keppler from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität examined the performance of nine commercially available rapid antigen tests for detecting an infection with the omicron or the delta variant – and draw a sobering conclusion: Eight of the Paul Tests already tested by the Ehrlich Institute for earlier variants of the virus were worse at detecting omicron infection than delta infection, the study found, which was published in the journal Medical Microbiology and Immunology.

“You should never take a negative result as a free pass,” Keppler warned. Especially in the omicron wave, precautionary measures such as keeping your distance and wearing masks are important to protect yourself and others.

Keppler warned that testing people without symptoms creates a false sense of security, especially in the current wave. “In my view, asymptomatic testing with self-tests makes little sense,” said Keppler. However, it makes sense to test with good antigen rapid tests in addition to limiting contacts in the event of symptoms. Then the viral load is usually higher; Tests are more likely to work.

Like the Federal Minister of Health, Keppler is demanding that a short list of tests that are well suited for detecting omicrons be published quickly – after all, there are now 580 rapid tests on the market. “The one-eyed blind tests for the detection of omicron must now be quickly identified and published by the Paul Ehrlich Institute.” About ten readily available tests would be sufficient for this.

Corona in Germany: Incidence falls again – deaths continue to rise

First report from February 22, 2022:

Berlin – The seven-day incidence has fallen again. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), it was 1306.8 on Tuesday morning. The previous day the value was 1346.8. A week ago, the nationwide incidence was 1437.5 (previous month: 772.7). In addition, 125,902 new corona infections were reported within one day. A week ago there were 159,217 infections.

Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. Test capacities and health authorities are therefore at the limit in many places, and contacts are only tracked to a limited extent. In addition, there is likely to be a larger number of people who no longer have their infection confirmed by a PCR test – the infection is therefore not included in the official statistics.

Corona: More dead again

According to the new information, 306 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 243 deaths. Meanwhile, the burden in the clinics continues to decrease. The RKI gave the hospitalization incidence on Monday at 6.06 (Sunday: 6.27). Among them are many people with a positive corona test who have another main illness. (dpa)

List of rubrics: © Thomas Hansmann/Pfizer Pharma GmbH/dpa