Has the omicron wave broken in Germany? According to the RKI, “the apex of the wave” is still to come for one population group in particular.
Berlin – The omicron wave does not seem to be over yet. For the second day in a row, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported an increase in the seven-day incidence. The RKI estimates that new infections are likely to increase, especially among seniors. “In this age group, the peak of the wave is still to come,” said the Corona weekly report on Thursday (03/03/2022).
While the values for younger people have fallen in the past week, the age group from 65 years of age has seen a slight increase, it said. In addition, more outbreaks in old people’s and nursing homes were reported in a weekly comparison.
| Robert Koch Institute | |
|---|---|
| Seat | Berlin |
| supervisory authority | Federal Ministry of Health |
| president | Lothar H Wieler |
Corona in Germany: Most of the federal states have passed the peak of the wave
Even if the population’s infection pressure is only slowly declining, the majority of the federal states have passed the peak of the omicron wave. “In Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein, on the other hand, the incidences continued to rise or rose again,” wrote the RKI in the weekly report.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had already warned of a return of the delta mutant. “The Delta variant is currently changing. It’s quite possible that we’ll be dealing with a mutant delta type in the fall,” Lauterbach said in February. Charité virologist Christian Drosten also pointed out “Deltakron” in January – a possible mixture of the delta and the omicron mutant.
Corona: BA.2 variant continues to spread
The spread of the new “BA.2” variant of the omicron mutant is also progressing. According to current RKI data, their share in a sample was around 38 percent the week before last, and the week before that the share was 25 percent. The BA.2 proportion has been increasing continuously since the beginning of the year, while infections with the previously dominant omicron subvariant BA.1 are declining, according to the dpa. The development can also be observed internationally.
“Due to the easier transferability of subline BA.2, a significantly slower decrease or renewed increase in the number of cases cannot be ruled out,” the RKI continued. An important factor for the further course is how much contacts increase as part of the planned easing. (kas with dpa material)
