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The new Corona variant has arrived in Italy. The Ministry of Health of the southern European country announced that the virus mutation had been detected in a patient. He and one other person had returned from Britain in recent days and had landed in Rome by plane. The patient is now in quarantine. Based on initial findings, the discovered variant is up to 70 percent more contagious than the previous form.
The mutation first appeared in the UK. To contain the virus, a harsh curfew lockdown has been implemented since Sunday in the capital London and across much of the south-east of England, including during the Christmas period. More than 16 million people are affected. Prime Minister Boris Johnson emphasized that there is no evidence that vaccines against the mutation are less effective.
The World Health Organization (WHO) called on its European member states to toughen their corona measures in light of the new variant of the coronavirus. “In Europe, where transmission is high and widespread, countries must intensify their control and prevention measures,” a WHO Europe spokeswoman said on Sunday.
Outside of the UK, eleven cases of the virus mutation, which is said to be significantly more contagious than the previous virus, have so far been reported: nine in Denmark and one each in the Netherlands and Australia. Several European countries later announced that they would restrict air connections from Great Britain. According to the Health Ministry, Austria is also planning a landing ban for flights from Great Britain. The British government imposed a curfew on London and the south-east of England.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan showed understanding for the closure, in which non-essential shops and facilities must also close. “It is the coming and going that leads to so much fear, despair, sadness and disappointment,” Khan told the BBC on Sunday. “If we keep changing our minds, people like me will find it very difficult to ask them to listen to us.”
Due to the spread of the new variant, the highest Corona Tier 4 has been introduced for London and other regions in South East England. Residents have not been allowed to leave this area since Sunday. Following the announcement of the stricter measures, many people spontaneously left on Saturday night to leave London. Photos and videos showed crowded train stations. “What they saw yesterday was a direct result of the messy way the announcement was made,” Khan said.
Understand that people want to travel with their families at the last second before travel bans go into effect. “But it’s wrong,” said the mayor. And regarding corona vaccines, he added: “How will you feel if you pass the virus on to older relatives, loved ones, whose lives could be long and fertile due to the vaccine, but who become infected with the virus and – God not want it – die? “
German health expert and SPD politician Karl Lauterbach warned of mutations in the corona virus. “It is very likely that the mutations increase the risk of infection,” he told the Germany publishing network on Sunday. “This is another reason why the second wave should not be as strong. The more infections it allows, the greater the likelihood that even more dangerous mutations will occur. It is a kind of vicious cycle: more infections lead to more opportunities for mutations. and therefore more mutations. These, in turn, lead to more infections. So it goes on and on. “
According to experts, the efficacy of the vaccine would probably not be significantly affected. Andreas Bergthaler of the Austrian Academy of Sciences does not consider the development to be “incredibly alarming”. It is not uncommon for mutations to appear. At the moment it is not known if the observed changes significantly modify the properties of the pathogen.
“I don’t see any cause for alarm at the moment,” said Richard Neher of the Biozentrum at the University of Basel. That this variant of the virus spreads faster is basically plausible, Neher said. If this is confirmed, much stricter measures are needed to slow the spread of the corona virus as desired. But it is also conceivable that the current largest spread of this variant is ultimately a coincidence and goes back to a super spread event, for example.
Quelle: What / Dpa
