Rapid growth from week to week: Such numbers from Great Britain are alarming about the Corona mutant Delta discovered in India. How is the situation developing in Germany?
Berlin (dpa) – The coronavirus variant Delta discovered in India remains relatively rare in Germany.
Their share of the examined samples is now 2.5 percent, according to a report by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on the mutants classified as worrying. The information relates to samples from the week of May 24th to 30th.
The RKI describes the development of the variant (B.1.617.2) in the previous weeks as increasing, up to 3.1 percent in the week from May 17th to 23rd. In the RKI reports of the previous weeks, the proportion of this variant was always quantified with values of two percent, but now there have been retroactive changes, which are justified with late registrations.
With a share of 94 percent of the samples examined, the variant alpha (B.1.1.7, discovered in Great Britain) continues to cause the majority of infections nationwide. The other worrisome variants beta and gamma still play a subordinate role.
Variants are classified as worrying if, for example, they may spread more easily, cause more severe disease or if the virus has changed in such a way that the protection of those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered may be impaired. In particular, the protection of the first vaccination against mutants is considered to be weaker compared to the effect against earlier virus forms. Experts therefore emphasize the importance of complete vaccination protection. Two doses are required for the preparations from Biontech / Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca.
The virologist Christian Drosten said on Tuesday in the podcast “Coronavirus Update” (NDR info) that Delta or similar variants “will certainly dominate the field here by autumn”. Until then, it is important to ensure that the vaccination rate for adults is as high as possible. “Then we won’t have any big problems” – he only sees a small question mark in this regard when it comes to children. Outbreaks in schools in England have been observed by Delta. So far there are no approved vaccines for children under the age of twelve.
The increasing prevalence of Delta is causing the number of cases in the UK to rise rapidly. After the seven-day incidence was only just over 20 for a long time, it is currently back at around 46 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week. In the north-west of England, an offensive with mass tests and vaccinations has been launched against the further spread.
However, Charité expert Drosten still sees ambiguities regarding the properties of Delta: He expressed doubts about the general validity of previous data. For him, it is important to look at developments in other countries: So far, neither in Denmark, where many samples are analyzed, nor in Germany has a sharp increase been seen in the past few weeks. In Great Britain a doubling of the values was observed from week to week.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210610-99-930594 / 3
