The number of cases in India is exploding.
Is this related to the corona mutant B.1.617 first detected there?
Virologist Christian Drosten first steps on the brakes - and remains calm.
Berlin - The world looks to India with great concern. There, the number of new infections with the coronavirus is currently exploding with over 350,000 reported cases per day. The health system is on the brink of collapse. Shocking images show how corpses were sometimes burned in the parking lots of overcrowded crematoria. In the middle of the increase in the number of infections, a new virus variant was also discovered there. Is the double mutant B.1.617 to blame for the drastic course in India? Virologist Christian Drosten from the Berlin Charité does not think this explanation is so simple - and tries to calm down.
There is great concern about an increased risk from the B.1.617 mutation.
Finally, there is a fear that it could have similarly clear effects as the British mutation B.1.1.7.
According to the WHO, the mutation first discovered in India has now been detected in at least 17 countries.
Most of the evidence came from India, Great Britain, the USA and Singapore.
The dramatic increase in numbers in India is often associated with the spread of the mutation.
Indian corona mutant B.1.617 already detected in 17 countries - Drosten remains calm
Preliminary study results also indicate that B.1.617 is spreading faster than other corona variants circulating in India, the WHO announced.
However, there are also other drivers for the rapid spread, such as mass events.
Virologist Drosten is also initially calm, instead of spreading great concern.
On the basis of the very small database available, it can be concluded that the mutant is not the only cause of the violent wave of infections in the country, "it is more of a mixed virus population," said Drosten in the podcast "Coronavirus Update" (NDR info ) on Tuesday evening (April 27th).
The more contagious variant B.1.1.7, which now dominates in Germany, is also strongly represented.
+
Virologist Christian Drosten (r.) With RKI boss Lothar Wieler.
© Fabrizio Bensch / dpa
Indian corona mutant B.1.617 according to Drosten "overrated in the media evaluation"
According to Drosten, several effects are currently coming together in India: According to a study, herd immunity was far from being achieved there.
A population is now being infected that is already beginning to lose a bit of the initial immunity from the previous waves, said the virologist.
At the same time, variant B.1.617 is a little more widespread and more robust against immunity.
In the technical jargon one speaks of Immunescape (immune escape).
This property is slightly pronounced in B.1.617.
Even in comparison with other variants, this is “nothing that really worries you”.
At the moment, he considers variant B.1.617 "(for) overrated in the media evaluation," said Drosten.
There is also no evidence that people became more seriously ill because of them.
“If many people are infected at the same time, then in absolute terms, even in the younger age groups, one has suddenly seen a lot of sick people in a short time frame.” In India, the general health of the population is also less good than in Germany, which is the effect to compensate for the younger population somewhat.
Drosten made it clear, however, that the situation can change: "It may be that in two months it turns out that something is with this virus."
(Han / dpa / AFP)
List of rubric lists: © Fabrizio Bensch
