Europe's airports are closing.
The reason is a coronavirus mutation that occurred there.
But how dangerous is it?
Experts give an assessment.
The fear of an even faster spread of the
coronavirus is
growing.
A
virus mutation
in the UK makes for tough measures.
Virologist
Christian Drosten
has a clear opinion.
Update from December 22nd, 7.46 a.m.:
The possibly dangerous
corona virus line B.1.1.7 *
is currently much discussed.
Now there are new findings: virologist
Christian Drosten
published the first results of a British investigation on
.
He writes: “Unfortunately that doesn't look good.
It is positive that cases with the mutant only increased in areas where the overall incidence was high or rising. ”His conclusion:“ Contact reduction also works against the spread of the mutant. ”
New data on the B.1.1.7 mutant (published today).
Unfortunately, that doesn't look good.
On the positive side, cases with the mutant have so far only increased in areas where the overall incidence was high or rising.
Contact reduction also works against the spread of the mutant.
https://t.co/s3Wd3X7ukF
- Christian Drosten (@c_drosten) December 21, 2020
In the post he refers to an initial result of an investigation that the British government had commissioned.
The
study
comes to the preliminary conclusion that the new mutation of
Sars-CoV-2
may be
more contagious,
alone or in combination with
other mutations
.
In addition,
B.1.1.7
is known to be
most common in London and the south-west and east regions of England.
The study was commissioned by the UK Ministry of Health and is based on genomic data from the
county of Kent
in the south-east of England.
The mutation is also making the situation even more tense in Germany.
Lothar Wieler assumes with a high probability that the new virus form is already rampant in Germany.
The President of the RKI commented on this in a press conference.
Corona: Mutation spreads probably 70 percent faster
First report from December 21:
Munich - After
a
mutation of
the
corona virus
* was
discovered
in
Great Britain
,
Europe
seals itself off
from the British island.
According to
initial estimates
, the new
virus variant is
spreading
70 percent faster
than the previous corona
virus
.
Therefore, some states pulled the emergency brake * and issued a
flight and entry ban
for people coming from Great Britain.
Lauterbach fears “catastrophe” for Germany due to Corona mutation
Also
SPD
* -Politiker Karl Lauterbach
is concerned.
"
If it came now
that we are in the middle of the second wave, where we have such high case numbers, it
would be a disaster,
" said the health expert at
Bild
about the new
coronavirus
* variant
.
“It's so similar to having a fire and pouring gasoline again,” said Lauterbach, describing the possible consequences.
The fact that the
corona mutation
* will
also
occur
in
Germany
cannot be prevented.
It may already be in circulation in this country.
“We don't know for sure whether it's already in Germany.
We haven't been able to check that yet, ”Lauterbach continued.
New coronavirus variant: virologist Christian Drosten "not so worried"
Virologist Christian Drosten
even assumes that the virus variant from Great Britain has
long since arrived in Germany
.
Only evidence of this is still missing.
Nevertheless, Drosten reassured the
Deutschlandfunk
: "I'm
not that worried about that
at the moment."
According to Drosten,
the origin of the coronavirus variant
has
yet to be clarified
.
“This virus isn't all that new now,” said Drosten.
"You really shouldn't let that disturb you in any way."
The virologist said that the mutation
was
discovered
in Great Britain in September
.
It also spread in
Australia
, the
Netherlands
and
Denmark
.
However, the consequences were not as dramatic as they are currently in southern England.
Coronavirus mutation in the UK: Italy also confirms cases
The Italian Ministry of Health has since confirmed that the
virus mutation
observed in Great Britain was
also
detected
in
Italy
.
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn mentioned cases in
Denmark
on ZDF
, which, according to Danish authorities, are under control.
MEP Peter Liese spoke of proven infections in
Belgium
and the
Netherlands
.
Is the corona mutation actually
70 percent more contagious
than the original virus variant?
Lauterbach did
not
want to commit himself to
Bild
.
It should be
clarified are not limited to
,
“Whether the mutation is as contagious as we suspect.” He considers a higher degree of
infection
*
to be likely.
(1) This is a very relevant document.
With this information, it seems very likely that the mutation VUI-202212/01 is significantly more contagious.
Higher R-value, faster spread, higher virus detection.
Hopefully this is not yet widespread with us.
What to do?
https://t.co/EtLA1o1q1w
- Karl Lauterbach (@Karl_Lauterbach) December 20, 2020
Drosten was more reserved.
"This number was simply called that," he said in an interview with
Deutschlandfunk
.
The
70 percent value is
still
based on estimates
.
And because the data collected are still very incomplete, Drosten continues, the contagious value cannot be
scientifically proven
*
.
(kh) * Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editorial network
List of rubric lists: © Michael Kappeler / dpa