The Robert Koch Institute has changed its risk assessment in view of the spread of the Omikron variant. Unvaccinated people and people without a booster are particularly at risk.
Berlin – Because of the Omikron variant of the corona virus, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has tightened its risk assessment. For those who have been vaccinated twice and those who have recovered, the risk of infection is now viewed as high, the RKI announced on Twitter.
For those who have not been vaccinated, it remains “very high”. For those vaccinated with a booster, however, the institute assesses the risk as moderate. Overall, the risk to the population is assessed as “very high”, writes the institute in its revised risk assessment. It warns of a sudden increase in the number of cases and rapid overloading of care.
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The risk of infection for groups of people is assessed as follows:
– very high for unvaccinated people
– high for recovered & vaccinated people with basic immunization (2x vaccinated)
– moderate for vaccinated people with booster vaccination (3x vaccinated) #Impfenschuetzt– Robert Koch Institute (@rki_de) December 20, 2021
“The reason for this is the occurrence and rapid spread of the omicron variant, which according to the current state of knowledge (from other countries) is spreading significantly faster and more effectively than the previous virus variants,” writes the RKI. The current development is “very worrying”. If Omikron continues to spread, it is to be feared that there will be a further increase in serious illnesses and deaths and that the intensive care treatment capacities available throughout Germany will be exceeded.
Last Thursday’s weekly report said that the RKI assessed the risk to the health of the population in Germany who had not been vaccinated or had only been vaccinated once “overall as very high”. For those who were fully vaccinated, it was considered moderate, but rose with increasing numbers of infections. dpa