The virologist Oliver Keppler is concerned about the planned relaxation of the corona virus and warns of an “unchecked spread”.
Munich – The corona incidence is rising sharply again and reached an all-time high on Wednesday (March 16). The infections are increasing. At the same time, from March 20th, most of the corona measures will be eliminated. The Munich virologist Oliver Keppler believes that the upcoming nationwide relaxation of the corona virus is wrong given the current situation.
Virologist criticizes corona loosening during omicron wave
“My impression is that we currently have a decoupling between the actual development of the infection process and the political discussion about easing and a Freedom Day,” said the head of virology at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University of the dpa. “An unchecked spread – and that’s what I fear at the moment – must not be Germany’s goal now.”
In his opinion, the political discussion about the easing and an end to the pandemic harbors the risk that the population will become less aware of the dangers and less willing to be vaccinated. “We still have 200 to 300 corona deaths every day,” said Keppler. “In almost nine out of ten, Covid is also the cause of death.” The “Corona model country” Denmark has more deaths in the omicron wave than ever before – “and in the USA more people are infected with omicron than with the Previous variant Delta died,” said the head of the Max von Pettenkofer Institute.
Virologist Keppler warns of further increasing corona numbers – problem in summer
The scientist called for a smart balance “between sensible, multi-layered infection prevention that is appropriate to the risks, which above all also protects vulnerable people, and a new normality.”
The omicron variant of the pathogen has two important subforms, the original BA.1 form and a new one called BA.2. “This second form is even more contagious than BA.1 and is certainly one reason why the number of infections is currently increasing sharply in many countries,” said Keppler. “In combination with the planned further easing, this will greatly increase the number of infections in our country. It will take longer this summer for us to get low incidences, if at all.” In the last few days, more and more experts and associations and even politicians have criticized the traffic light government’s easing plans. So does virologist Sandra Ciesek. (md with dpa) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
