The head of the Robert Koch Institute once again appeals urgently to all citizens to limit themselves to a minimum of contacts at Christmas. Only in this way could Omikron be slowed down.
Berlin – The President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, has called in view of the spreading omicron variant of the corona virus, to celebrate Christmas only in the smallest circle.
“We all want to spend the holidays with family and friends, but we all have to work together to ensure that Christmas doesn’t become a kick start for Omikron,” said Wieler on Thursday in Berlin.
He “urged” citizens to spend the holidays in such a way that they would be “not a festival for the virus”. “Only spend this time with the smallest, closest circle of friends and family.” When meeting people from risk groups, he recommended tests even if the vaccination was complete.
Relieve hospitals
It is now a matter of generally preventing infections as much as possible, so that Omikron cannot spread so quickly and the handles would be relieved before the number of cases then probably increased again. In Germany, a few hundred cases with the variant in the reporting system have so far been transmitted, said Wieler.
At the moment, according to his information, it is not yet possible to assess how well the vaccination protects against severe disease and whether Omikron causes less or more illness. Due to the fact that it is so extremely contagious, one has to reckon with a high number of severe courses “solely for mathematical reasons”. Regarding the effect of the vaccination, Wieler said: “Being vaccinated is always better than not being vaccinated, that is absolutely clear”. However, initial studies indicated that two vaccinations did not protect against Omikron as well. With a booster vaccination, the protection could probably be significantly increased again. dpa
