The proportion of the delta variant is increasing.
Alarm bells are ringing for doctors.
The SPD health expert Lauterbach is concerned about a very specific group.
Berlin (dpa) - Doctors are concerned about the delta variant of the corona virus, which is considered particularly infectious.
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, raised the question of whether the current corona easing was not going too far.
The chairman of the conference of health ministers, Klaus Holetschek (CDU), advised “the utmost vigilance”.
The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach is particularly concerned about unvaccinated children.
In Great Britain, the Delta variant discovered in India is spreading rapidly and, despite the high vaccination rate, is significantly increasing the number of new infections. Further easing that had already been planned has been postponed. This virus variant is still not very common in Germany, but its proportion is increasing. According to the latest report by the Robert Koch Institute, it was 6.2 percent in calendar week 22 (May 31 to June 6). In the previous week it was 3.7 percent.
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Montgomery, expects the Delta variant to spread even faster in Germany than the previous modifications. "The tricky thing about this variant is that infected people very quickly have a very high viral load in the throat and can thus infect others before they even notice that they are infected," said Montgomery to the newspapers of the Funke media group. He warned that FFP2 masks should still be worn in public transport, in shops and other indoor areas. Countries should check whether the announced easing did not go too far. “They should also have the political stature to reverse the easing that has been announced if the number of infections due to the delta variant should rise again. So,as the British government has now done, ”said the doctor.
Montgomery also warned not to repeat the mistake made last summer. In 2020, the re-entry of the virus by return travelers was underestimated, and a new wave followed in autumn. "This danger now exists again when many as yet unvaccinated tourists return to Germany from party vacations all over Europe."
"We have to monitor the proportion of the Delta variant in the new infections very closely," said Ute Teichert, chairwoman of the Federal Association of Doctors in the Public Health Service, the Funke newspapers. The head of the association of medical officers also complained that the workforce in the health departments was still making slow progress. By the end of the year, 1,500 new positions for medical specialists are to be created at the health authorities. Most of these positions have not yet been filled.
The Bavarian Health Minister Holetschek also warned that the Delta virus variant should not be underestimated. "Their occurrence and their high degree of infection show us that we have not yet defeated Corona despite noticeably falling incidence values," Holetschek told the "Rheinische Post". “We still need the utmost vigilance. Caution and prudence must continue to determine action, ”emphasized the chairman of the conference of health ministers.
The SPD health expert Lauterbach assumes that the Delta variant will play the dominant role in Germany in autumn because it is so much more contagious.
He hoped that this would not become a big problem, of all things, for the children who were not vaccinated, Lauterbach said in the ARD “Tagesthemen”.
"The vaccinated will have no problems with the Delta variant," emphasized the SPD politician.
This virus variant does not compete with the vaccines used.
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