As of Sunday, doctors will ring the bell in Munich and ask them for a blood test - because Munich will be the center of a large corona study.
- From Sunday (April 4th), Munich will become a test area for research on Corona * .
- In 3,000 randomly selected Munich residents, one examines how the corona virus spreads.
- All that is needed is blood tests.
Munich - It's the big unknown: Many infected people don't feel any symptoms despite an infection, says Professor Michael Hoelscher, head of the Infection and Tropical Medicine department at the University of Munich clinic. It can therefore be assumed that there is now a significant undisclosed number of corona infections - estimates are between one and ten percent of the population. That is why Hoelscher and his colleagues in Munich now want to explore the secret of the virus on a large scale.
"It is not clear how far the virus has spread," says Hoelscher. The test subjects will be randomly selected in the next four weeks. You have to give three milliliters of blood - "that corresponds to a teaspoon," says Hoelscher.
Corona test in Munich: sample selection
The test teams are on the move in districts selected according to statistical criteria and will ring the bell in a first step to hand over information material. Those who want to participate then the actual test itself should sign up by phone - then teams come in protective clothing, remove the blood and conduct interviews. The blood is then tested for antibodies.
Since many charlatans currently use the corona fear for their purposes, police officers will accompany the teams. This is to make it clear that the researchers are not fraudsters.
According to Markus Söder , the project will deliver the first results in a few days; it is planned to take a total of one year. The test subjects are examined repeatedly at regular intervals.
Coronavirus Munich: Doubling time must increase to 14 days if ...
As reported, the tough Bavarian measures are now having an effect: Söder is clear that it is precisely on Easter holidays that "it is humanly difficult if you are not allowed to meet your family". But: “Perseverance is worthwhile. The curve flattens slightly, ”the Prime Minister repeated. The number of infected people in Bavaria is currently only doubling in more than six days. Before school closings, the number doubled every 2.5 days, before exit restrictions every 3.8 days. Experts assume that the doubling time must go at least in the direction of 14 days so that a collapse of the health system can be prevented in the long term.
"Without doing anything, it would have cost a million lives in Germany," says Munich-based virologist Prof. Ulrike Protzer. With the measures now taken, however, one can assume that "this number can be reduced to well below 100,000, hopefully below 20,000." Bavaria is only nine days behind the situation in Italy.
Despite all the progress, Protzer, director of the Virology Institute at TU Munich, warns that "we are still not out of an exponential growth curve". That is why you have to gain time - on the one hand, so as not to overwhelm the hospitals: "We see in Italy that people there also die from many other diseases that still exist because they can no longer be treated accordingly." others to develop medication and a vaccine. The virologist will become part of a new expert council of scientists and practitioners who will advise the state government. "Ultimately, the point is that we have to understand the virus in order to be able to defeat it," said Science Minister Bernd Sibler.
Klaus Rimpel
On tz.de * you can find all information about the corona virus in Munich: fine catalog, which shops are still open, problems and fears of the Munich, curfew, test stations.
* tz.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.
List of rubric lists: © dpa / Hendrik Schmidt