Experts have expressed concern about the Corona variant Delta, which was first discovered in India. Is she threatening to spoil the summer in Germany? That’s what the latest analyzes say.
Berlin (dpa) – The Corona variant Delta (B.1.617.2), classified as worrying a few weeks ago, continues to play a subordinate role in Germany, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
Their share of samples examined from the week of May 17 to 23 was 2.1 percent. This emerges from an RKI report. In the previous weeks, the proportion had increased slightly but steadily, to up to 2.4 percent.
According to the RKI data, the mutant first identified in India has the second largest share in Germany, albeit with an enormous lag: Alpha (B.1.1.7) comes to around 93 percent. This variant, discovered in Great Britain, has spread rapidly internationally since the end of 2020. The other variants beta (B.1.351) and gamma (P.1.) Classified as worrying were found in even fewer numbers.
In Germany, not all positive samples are tested for variants by a long way. As the authors write, the ordinance on molecular genetic corona monitoring allows total genome sequencing to be performed and reimbursed for up to ten percent of the weekly positive samples, since the number of weekly new infections in Germany has been below 70,000 cases since around mid-May . The aim is to ensure that, even in phases of low incidence, “a comprehensive picture” of the variants occurring in Germany is available for analyzing and assessing the situation. According to the ordinance, up to 5 percent of the samples are used in times with a higher number of cases.
The worrying Corona variants have recently been named after letters of the Greek alphabet. The neutral names are intended to prevent them from being named after the countries of discovery. “That is stigmatizing and discriminatory,” the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday evening.
Variants with genetic changes that are associated with certain properties such as higher transferability and an altered immune response are considered to be worrying. With the predominant variant alpha in this country, an infected person infects more people on average than with previous forms of the virus.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210603-99-841648 / 2
