The Corona variant Omikron, newly discovered in South Africa, is causing global concern.
Now the WHO has issued a risk assessment.
The news ticker for the new mutant.
The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies Omikron in the pandemic as "worrying".
The corona mutation has also already arrived in Germany.
The hope remains that vaccination and boosters will continue to offer immune protection.
Berlin - So far, the delta variant has dominated the corona infection process in most countries.
This is also the case in Germany.
But Omikron is already there in this country: One case has been confirmed in Hesse, and there are two highly suspected cases in Bavaria.
The WHO classifies the risk from the new mutation as "very high" worldwide.
As a precautionary measure, the WHO now assesses the global risk posed by Omikron as "very high".
A sharp increase in Omicron infections could have serious consequences, the UN agency warned in Geneva this Monday.
Countries in which only a few people are vaccinated could be particularly hard hit.
An indirect reference to, for example, South Africa.
At the same time, the WHO emphasized that science still knew very little about the effects of Omikron.
The risk assessment is therefore subject to a very high level of uncertainty and can still change.
Corona variant Omikron: According to the RKI, no connection to Delta
Omikron was first reported from South Africa on Thursday (November 25).
Many countries have already imposed travel restrictions.
The WHO considers Omikron to be "worrying" because of the large number of mutations.
It is still unclear whether Omikron is more dangerous than Delta.
Variants such as Mu or Lambda that appeared in the past few months could not overtake Delta.
Scientists therefore assumed that the next worrying variant would have to develop from Delta.
In fact, according to the RKI, Omikron is independent of Delta.
Lauterbach and Drosten comment on the Omikron variant
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach, for example, considers a lighter course of the disease to be “conceivable”.
He urged caution, however, as South Africa has a very young population, while Germany is the country with the oldest population in Europe.
Lauterbach assumes that the corona vaccination also offers Omikron protection from serious illness.
The booster protects "probably full".
The epidemiologist Timo Ulrichs was much more skeptical.
The significantly stronger changes compared to the original virus "could have the potential to bypass the existing immunization," he said, according to AFP.
Christian Drosten also fears such an “escape variant” (or “immune escape mutant”).
The Berlin virologist said on Sunday evening in the “heute journal” that he was “quite worried” about Omikron.
But Drosten emphasized in the ZDF interview that we don't know too much about the Omikron variant.
Vaccines from Biontech and Moderna: companies react
The Mainz company Biontech has already initiated a review of its corona vaccine and wants to adjust it if necessary.
The first results should be available within two weeks at the latest.
The US company Moderna announced that it will develop a special booster vaccination against Omikron.
There is still a dispute as to whether there should be a quick federal-state meeting because of the corona situation in Germany, which has been further exacerbated by Omikron, and whether the infection protection law, as amended by the traffic light parties, is sufficient to break the fourth wave.
(frs with material from dpa and AFP)
