Corona incidence over 400: Expert expects doubling "in St. Nicholas week" - concern about new virus variants

The corona incidence is rising again, now the chairman of the World Medical Association is calling for strict measures, although "nothing more can be changed" in the immediate development.

Munich - The number of new Corona * infections in Germany has been increasing almost unchecked for weeks.

The seven-day incidence of 444.3 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants has risen to a new high, according to the RKI.

Experts are alarmed, including the chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery.

He expects the incidence to double in the next ten days, the 69-year-old told the newspapers of the

.

Consequences are therefore urgently needed.

Corona incidence over 400: doubling expected in ten days - expert warns

Only at the end of last week was the nationwide incidence at 362.2, on Saturday (November 27) it rose by more than 20 percent. The calls for stricter measures are getting louder, which is why politicians are now considering bringing forward the Corona summit. For Montgomery, it obviously comes very late. Any measure to combat the pandemic * - even a lockdown including contact restrictions - will only take effect around two weeks after it comes into force.

The situation will also worsen massively over the next few days and weeks.

"During St. Nicholas Week, we could have incidences between 700 and 800," Montgomery told the

.

Even with immediate measures, this is unlikely to be prevented.

Health Minister Spahn * warned of such a development at a press conference.

Corona in Germany: Montgomery calls for fewer contacts and closing of Christmas markets

The drastic development of the corona situation can no longer be reversed so easily.

"There is nothing we can do about the fact that on the day Olaf Scholz is elected as Chancellor the numbers will be dramatically high," the doctor said in an interview.

However, what is absolutely necessary so that the pandemic does not derail completely is a strict reduction in contacts and the nationwide closing of Christmas markets.

This is the only way to flatten the infection curve again.

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Frank Ulrich Montgomery, CEO of the World Medical Association, gives a gloomy forecast for Germany.

© Jürgen Heinrich / IMAGO

This must be regulated by the federal government and not by the individual states and municipalities in order to create uniform rules for all Germans.

"There is no point in banning the Christmas markets in one region if people then go to another where they are still open," says Montgomery.

Larger celebrations, fireworks and private gluttony would also have to be banned on New Year's Eve in order to both relieve the hospitals and prevent further infections.

Corona mutation from South Africa: Omikron causes concern

According to Montgomery, the new Corona variant Omikron * alone shows that the virus should not be given a chance to mutate.

We don't know too much about them yet, but the variant seems to be spreading very quickly.

In fact, Omikron has already arrived in Europe *, and there is already the first suspected case in Germany.

"My major concern is that there could be a variant that is as infectious as Delta and as dangerous as Ebola," says the 69-year-old.

Everything must therefore be done to stop the virus and its mutations as much as possible.

List of rubric lists: © Guido Kirchner / dpa