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Crown numbers remain high shortly before Christmas. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), another 19,528 people tested positive for the coronavirus in 24 hours. This brings the total number of infections detected to 1,530,180. Another 731 people died from or with the virus. A total of 27,006 deaths are recorded.
The so-called seven-day incidence increases to 197.6, the highest value ever calculated. It shows how many people for every 100,000 residents tested positive in seven days. The federal and state governments are targeting a value of 50 to contain the virus.
At the same time, there is concern in Germany about the mutation of the virus that has appeared in the UK. A few days before the start of the vaccination campaign, the president of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, reported on the current development of the pandemic at a press conference.
The head of Biontech “trusts” that the vaccine against the variant of the virus will work
Biontech boss Uğur Şahin is confident that his company’s corona vaccine will also work against the new mutation of the virus that has emerged in the UK. From a scientific point of view, the probability is high, he told the German Press Agency. “We have already tested the vaccine against 20 other virus variants with other mutations. The immune response produced by our vaccine has always inactivated all forms of the virus.”
The virus has now mutated a bit more, Şahin said. “Now we have to test it experimentally. It will take about two weeks. But we are confident that the mechanism of action will not be significantly affected.”
The antigen that the Mainz-based company and its American partner Pfizer use for the vaccine consists of more than 1,270 amino acids. Nine of them have now mutated, so not even one percent. “Our vaccine sees all the protein and elicits multiple immune responses. This gives us so many docking points that it is difficult to escape the virus. But that does not mean that the new variant is harmless.” The Biontech vaccine based on the mRNA of the messenger molecule can, in principle, be rapidly adapted to new variants.
Drosten: New Corona variant probably also in Germany
Virologist Christian Drosten assumes that the new variant of the coronavirus has already reached Germany. “I think that is already in Germany,” Drosten said Monday morning on Deutschlandfunk. “This virus is not that new. You really shouldn’t let that bother you in any way.” The virus has been in England since late September and it wasn’t even focused on October. “Now we know: it is already in Italy, in Holland, in Belgium, in Denmark, even in Australia. Why shouldn’t it be in Germany?”
Regarding the new variant of the virus, Drosten said: “I am not that worried about this at the moment. However, I am, like everyone else, in an unclear information situation.” Documents of public knowledge are still incomplete, British scientists would see it the same way. “They also say they have to wait until this week at least until some preliminary data analysis has been completed to even say that the suspicions they are expressing are true.” Given the increase in the number of infections, the question is whether the new variant of the virus is the culprit, “or is it simply that local transmission mechanisms have come into play (…) that any other virus would have dragged along.”
The newly discovered variant is up to 70 percent more contagious than the previously known form, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday. Drosten expressed doubts about the scientific certainty of this value: “This number was just named that.” Politicians would name such numbers, the media would record them. “Suddenly there is such value in the room, 70 percent, and nobody knows what it means.”
Warning of illegally sold corona rapid tests
The Cologne district government is warning against corona rapid tests that have been illegally marketed across the country. These would be sold at gas stations, supermarkets, veterinary offices, breweries, and many other places. The products “Covid-19 Ag Test” from the manufacturer “nal von minden GmbH” and “blnk Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Antigen Rapid Test Cassette (Swab)” from the manufacturer Hangzhou Realy Tech Co. are affected.
Both tests are on the official list of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfAM), so they are approved for use in Germany. However, until now, rapid antigen tests can only be ordered by physicians. Sampling should be done by a medical professional. There are good reasons for this: in principle, these rapid tests are not as safe as the samples examined in the laboratory, they detect a corona infection much less frequently. If the smears are not taken correctly (it is necessary to insert a stick in the nose uncomfortably), the probability of obtaining a false negative result increases.
According to the Cologne district government, the tests were put into circulation by a company in Frechen and were freely available to private clients even without specialist knowledge. Although the tests from two manufacturers have been withdrawn “as an urgent safety measure”, “they are currently still partially open – and taken out of the large original packaging – on the sales counter.”
The company and the apartment of the director of the Frechen company had been searched with the help of the Hürth criminal police and the public order office and a list of clients had been obtained. “The customer list contains around 5,700 corona rapid test customers across Germany, of which between 4,000 and 4,500 customers should not have received the test,” the district government reported.
Lauterbach: the British Crown mutation would currently be a “catastrophe” for Germany
Karl Lauterbach, an SPD health expert, has urgently warned against the rapid penetration of the coronavirus variant discovered in Britain in Germany. “If it came now that we are in the middle of the second wave, where we have such a high number of cases, it would be a disaster,” Lauterbach said Sunday night in image-Talk “The Right Questions” https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/. “It’s like having a fire and putting gasoline on again.” Lauterbach calculated the probability that the new Corona variant, supposedly much more contagious, will sooner or later reach Germany at 100 percent.
A mutation of the virus was recently discovered in Britain which, according to initial findings by scientists, is said to be up to 70 percent more contagious than the previously known form. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was no evidence that vaccines against the mutation were less effective. Due to the variant of the coronavirus, Germany and other European countries are increasingly isolating themselves from the UK at the beginning of the week.
Lauterbach said he hoped the variant had not yet reached Germany. “So we have to fight to keep it that way as long as possible.” This is “another reason why we have to rigorously carry out the lockdown” until new infections per 100,000 inhabitants are well below 50 or, better still, below 25 in seven days. So you can “even if the new mutation is there, immediately discover and finalize each new group and get back on the wave.” Currently, however, only six federal states are above the 200 mark, including Saxony, with a maximum of 427 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days.
Lauterbach is convinced that the entry restrictions imposed by Germany and other EU countries for travelers from Great Britain and South Africa, which is also affected by the virus variant, are urgently needed and may need to be maintained for a long time. weather. “If it is confirmed to be much more virulent, then it would take at least weeks, if not months.” And even after the entry bans have been lifted, everyone coming from the regions must continue to get tested.
