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“I don’t think we’ll have a bigger problem there anytime soon,” says Drosten now.
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“For the British this is a possible preview of tough Brexit”
Fearing the mutated corona virus, the European continent has closed its borders to Great Britain. Trucks accumulate kilometers in the English Channel. The EU is giving the first signals to extend the Brexit negotiations.
After Christian Drosten commented on the Corona mutation on Monday night with “Unfortunately, that doesn’t look good,” he expressed concern a day later: “Given current restrictions, this variant should be quite difficult to take hold on this country”.
reBerlin virologist Christian Drosten believes that the rapid spread of the new variant of the coronavirus in Germany is unlikely. “I don’t think we will have a bigger problem anytime soon,” he told the German Press Agency on Tuesday. It is very likely that the variant with the designation B.1.1.7., Which was first detected in Great Britain, is now also in Germany. “But with current restrictions, this variant is unlikely to take hold in this country.” This is indicated by the data published by the British health authority Public Health England (PHE).
Consequently, B.1.1.7 is spreading. particularly fast compared to already known Sars-CoV-2 variants where insufficient restrictions lead to an increase in the number of infections. In areas of Britain where effective measures exist, the new variant is also largely under control. For Germany, Drosten concludes that blocking the variant should leave little chance of spread.
As of yet, there is no evidence that the new variant has an impact on the severity of the disease, Drosten said. “This is very important for the population, who are now concerned.” There are also no signs of reduced protection by vaccination.
In a research article, experts from the British health authority Public Health England (PHE) concluded that B.1.1.7. it is likely to be more transferable than other variants. To do this, they evaluated data from different regions. From the calculations of the PHE model, it can be deduced that the number of reproductions, that is, the average number of people infected by an infected person, increases between 30 and 40 percent in the new variant, depending on the location Drosten said. “That is considerable.” However, these estimates are vague and should be treated with caution.
Drosten: “That’s the good news”
The new variant of the virus is characterized by about 20 mutations in its genome. The mutation, known as N501Y, should facilitate entry into human cells and cause infection. However, according to Drosten, it is not clear which variant has the decisive advantage. It is conceivable that in B.1.1.7. there is less exposure to viruses to become contagious. But it is also possible that the variant ensures that an infected person has more virus in the throat and, therefore, is more contagious.
It is positive that the new variant lacks a certain gene that actually increases the severity of the disease, Drosten said. “That is the good news.” It could well be that B.1.1.7. it is more harmless. This can also be a reason for the faster spread. Because people without symptoms or with mild symptoms tend not to isolate themselves and therefore can increasingly infect others, according to Drosten.
On Monday night, Drosten was even more concerned about the virus mutation. “Unfortunately, that does not look good,” he wrote on Twitter and shared new data from the British health authority. The evaluation shows that the B.1.1.7 virus variant is significantly more contagious than the previously reported variants.
Drosten positively rated the scientists’ assumption that cases with the mutant only increased in areas where the overall incidence was high or increasing. This shows that contact reduction works against the spread of the mutant.
On Sunday he said that the new variant of the coronavirus circulating in Britain had already reached Germany. At the same time, scaremongering had taken hold of him. The virus has been in England since late September and it wasn’t even focused on October.
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