Enlarge image
Hesse's Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU)
Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
The corona numbers in Germany are falling - but concerns about the spread of the delta variant are growing.
Hesse's Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) therefore does not rule out a return to contact restrictions.
"I expect the Delta variant to be the predominant variant in Germany in a month's time," he told the editorial network in Germany.
The delta variant is a variation of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus that was initially detected in India and is currently spreading rapidly in many countries.
What is certain is that it is significantly more contagious than all other previously known variants.
One cannot rule out the possibility that people will return from summer vacation infected, said Bouffier.
It also depends on "whether we will get a fourth wave and return to contact restrictions," says Bouffier.
"We can't rule that out."
Bouffier is not alone in this view. Federal Minister of Health and party colleague Jens Spahn also believes that despite the current very low incidences in autumn and winter, measures such as wearing a mask or alternating instruction will probably still be necessary. One of the main goals is to keep normal school life as long as possible. But: "We have to be prepared for everything."
In view of the expected developments, the opposition complains of inaction. "The political failure that we had to experience last year due to missing air filters in schools, full buses and trains and far too little protection in the workplace must not be repeated," said left parliamentary group leader Amira Mohamed Ali of "Welt". She calls for a concrete timetable on how the delta variant should be met: "The federal government must finally learn from its mistakes and create the structures to enable a good autumn and winter."
The Green health politician Janosch Dahmen also called for concrete containment measures in the “ARD morning magazine”: “We now really have to systematically implement quarantine rules for travelers returning.
And we will consistently need masks at gatherings such as in football stadiums. «Schoolchildren shouldn't be the ones to suffer after the summer vacation.
The federal government must make appropriate preparations, such as installing filter systems and promoting the necessary digitization.
Fear of the fourth wave
The Federal Association of Doctors in the Public Health Service called for good preparation for a possible fourth corona wave. “Nobody knows whether and to what extent there will be a fourth wave. But when it comes, we should be well prepared for it: It is very important that the health authorities now get additional specialist staff quickly, "said chairwoman Ute Teichert of the" Rheinische Post ".
Last week, Delta’s share of new Sars-CoV-2 infections was a good six percent, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
Otherwise, the corona situation in Germany looks comparatively relaxed: For the first time in ten months, the health authorities had reported fewer than 500 new infections within one day to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
The RKI registered 346 new cases, according to figures from Monday morning.
The RKI gave the seven-day incidence nationwide as 8.6; in the previous week it was 16.6.
According to the RKI, more than 25.8 million people or more than 31 percent of the population in Germany are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Just over 42 million people (50.8 percent) have received at least one vaccination.
But, among other things, Great Britain, which is very fast in vaccination, suspended opening steps last week after the Delta variant had again led to an increase in new infections there. The virus variant was detected in April. At the beginning of May it made up around a quarter of the cases, at the beginning of June there were almost only delta cases.
According to preliminary findings from the English health authority, Delta could not only be more contagious, but also lead to more severe Covid-19 diseases than the alpha variant that dominated before.
Data from England and Scotland suggested an increased risk of hospital admissions, Public Health England said earlier this month.
According to the current state of knowledge, fully vaccinated people are also well protected against a severe course of Covid-19 at Delta.
mrc / dpa