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RKI is already talking about a fifth wave - Wieler has drastic demands

2021-11-21T05:34:32.759Z


RKI President Lothar Wieler is already warning of the fifth corona wave. Stiko boss Mertens agrees. The two explain how to proceed now.


RKI President Lothar Wieler is already warning of the fifth corona wave.

Stiko boss Mertens agrees.

The two explain how to proceed now.

Berlin - The fourth corona wave is only just piling up.

Behind it - and still a long way off - the next one could already be brewing if we don't act now, warns the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

Its President Lothar Wieler makes the further course of the pandemic dependent on two factors.

One of them concerns the fourth wave, the other the fifth.

"The rest of the winter depends heavily on what happens now," says Wieler at the dpa.

And further: "If the reduction of the contacts and the vaccination do not succeed intensively, we will also get a fifth wave according to the current modeling." It is therefore important to turn these two screws, the microbiologist and veterinarian made clear.

Contact restrictions would take effect in three to five weeks, vaccination in the medium term.

Stiko boss Mertens predicts: Vaccinations will not break the fourth corona wave

The chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), Thomas Mertens, blows the same horn: He does not believe that the infection process can be curbed in the near future by increased vaccination.

"It must be said that vaccinations can actually no longer play a role in overcoming the acute situation at the moment," said the television station Phoenix on Friday evening.

"We will not be able to break the fourth wave with vaccinations."

We will not be able to break the fourth wave with vaccinations.

Stiko boss Thomas Mertens

RKI boss Wieler therefore demands "to ensure that people's contacts are restricted nationwide in Germany." The effects of this would be seen in the number of infections after two weeks, he promises.

It is important that federal states, which are currently not that badly affected, also act preventively.

There is still a chance there to keep the numbers low.

"Where the numbers are high, it is actually very late, if not too late," says Wieler.

Corona: RKI and Stiko warn of the fifth wave - "massively" increase vaccination activities

With a view to a fifth wave, the RKI President calls for a "massive" increase in vaccination activities. "The vaccine is the way out of the pandemic," says Wieler. "But that doesn't mean that other measures can be completely neglected." That is not easy to communicate. The vaccination gives a very, very high level of protection. "What some people may not fully understand is that there is no one hundred percent protection and that protection against infection is not as high as that against serious illness."

Stiko boss Mertens also thinks a fifth wave is possible.

"It is to be expected that there will also be a fifth wave in winter 2022," he told the editorial network Germany.

"How strong this is depends largely on how many people are vaccinated and boosted."

(

Jo

/ dpa)

List of rubric lists: © Emmanuele Contini via www.imago-images.de

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-11-21

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