TDespite the currently relaxed corona situation in Germany, the delta variant of the virus, which is considered to be more contagious, is on the advance. “We have clear signs that Delta is now already dominating over 20 percent of the cases in Hesse,” said State Health Minister Kai Klose (Greens) on Tuesday at a press conference. From this you can see “that it goes very quickly”. The variant is even more infectious than the alpha variant, said Klose. “But we have no indications, at least so far, that this variant triggers even more serious illnesses.” He assumes that “Delta will prevail relatively quickly and will be the predominant variant”.
Health Minister Jens Spahn had recently stated that it was not a question of whether but when Delta would dominate the infection process in Germany. In Germany, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute, the proportion of the variant initially discovered in India in new corona infections was a good 6 percent (week from May 31 to June 6) at the beginning of June. In Great Britain it is already the dominant variant. The first cases of this variant were detected there in April. At the beginning of May, Delta made up around a quarter of the cases, at the beginning of June there were almost only Delta cases.
“We’ll be smarter in a week today”
Meanwhile, the virologist Christian Drosten sees the possibility of a different course for Germany after the rise in the corona incidence in Great Britain due to the delta variant. It could be that the situation will remain relatively constant for the time being, said the head of virology at the Berlin Charité on Tuesday in the “Coronavirus Update” podcast from NDR-Info. He pointed out, for example, that after Germany there was probably not such a high number of independent entries of the variant – for example directly from India. In Great Britain there is also a slightly different structure in the population with communities of Asian origin, in which the virus was initially boiled up. “That’s why it may not be the case with us.”
According to Drosten, it would be a “very bad signal” if the new RKI data showed a doubling of the weekly rate. Since the values always refer to a point in time about two weeks ago, this can no longer be checked in retrospect; there is a threat of doubling again in the following week. “If that were the case, then we just have to be prepared for the fact that other effects will work the way they did in England with the delta variant.” The development of the proportion of the delta variant in Germany is an important early indicator you have to look, said Drosten. Instead of making predictions about the summer, watch what happens. “I think we’ll be smarter in a week from today.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has described the low number of corona infections in Germany as very positive, but at the same time urged caution in view of the global development. “Some efforts have paid off well,” said Merkel on Tuesday, according to information from the dpa news agency from participants in the last Union parliamentary group meeting before the parliamentary summer break in Berlin. At the same time, she warned: The “pandemic is not over yet”.
In many countries in the world there is still no vaccine, said Merkel. Vaccine production must be accelerated. Again she spoke out against requests to suspend the patents on certain vaccines. Such patent rights should not be overridden. Rather, one must take precautions so that companies can continue to develop vaccines in the future.
Union chancellor candidate and CDU leader Armin Laschet said that answers to a pandemic are only possible globally. It was wise that the G-7 group of the leading western industrialized countries had the south of the world in their sights on Corona. The central resolution of the most recent G-7 summit in Cornwall, south-west England, is the promise to give poorer countries more vaccine than before in the fight against the corona pandemic.
Laschet named the pandemic as an example that the essential tasks could only be solved worldwide. There is a “polypandemic” – several tasks that can only be clarified worldwide. He criticized China’s use of vaccines as a means of political leverage, for example in Africa.
In addition, there are severe geopolitical shifts, said Laschet accordingly. There is consensus that the fight against climate change will dominate the next few years. You have to find global answers to climate protection and “also talk to Russia, even if it’s difficult,” said Laschet, according to the dpa.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/health-minister-klose-signs-that-delta-dominates-over-20-percent-of-the-cases-in-hessen/
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