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AIn view of the continuing high number of corona infections, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has urged you to avoid contact during Christmas. “Don’t travel,” RKI President Lothar Wieler said in Berlin on Tuesday. All citizens should only spend the holiday season in a small group, limit meetings to the same participants if possible, and do so outdoors if possible. With the daily restrictions now strict, the infection numbers can be reduced more quickly if everyone is careful. Difficult weeks ahead. “We shouldn’t make it more difficult.”
The situation is currently getting worse, Wieler explained. The virus occurs throughout the population in all age groups and in all parts of Germany. “We fear that the contagion process will get even tougher during the holidays.” In addition, the population group over 80 years old is particularly affected, there have been several serious outbreaks in the elderly and nursing homes. Old age remains the greatest risk factor for a serious or even fatal course of the disease.
Health authorities now reported 19,528 new cases and 731 deaths in one day, as the RKI announced on Tuesday. As of Tuesday of the previous week, 14,432 new infections and 500 deaths were reported; however, there was no data from Saxony at the time, which was subsequently reported. The RKI now gives 197.6 the number of new infections reported in seven days per 100,000 inhabitants. This is the highest level since the pandemic began.
Regarding a new variant of the coronavirus that has appeared in Britain, Wieler said its importance to the infection process cannot yet be definitively assessed. This is being closely monitored and there are still many unanswered questions, for example whether the variant is actually more contagious. Overall, it’s clear: the more a virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to change. The variant has not yet been tested in Germany. However, Wieler rated the probability that it was already unknown in the country as “very high.”
Wieler said he was relieved to begin vaccination on Sunday with the Biontech and Pfizer vaccine, which will be delivered across Europe in the next five days. Ole Wichmann, head of the department of vaccination prevention specialists at RKI, emphasized that the development and approval of the vaccine has not been compromised. “We have a vaccine that is safe and extremely effective based on all the available data.” Serious side effects did not occur frequently in the approval study, but the Paul Ehrlich Institute will continue to monitor this. However, it is not clear whether the vaccine also protects against infection and how long the protection lasts. According to the current state of knowledge, he fears no disadvantage for the vaccine due to the new variant of the virus from Great Britain, according to Wieler.
