Omikron: RKI classifies neighboring countries as high-risk areas - Scotland is hit by the Corona "tsunami"

Created: 12/18/2021, 06:15 AM

From: Patrick Huljina, Martina Lippl

The omicron variant of the coronavirus is still on the rise in Europe.

Germany is declaring more and more countries to be high-risk areas.

The news ticker.

• The mutation is also still on the rise in Spain

  (see update from December 17, 3:36 p.m.).

• Denmark is restricting public life because of Omikron

  (see update from December 17, 5:52 p.m.)

  .

• The RKI classifies Denmark as a high-risk area from Sunday

  (see update from December 17, 7:20 p.m.)

  .

• Scotland is hit by a "tsunami" of infections

  (see update from December 17th, 9:05 pm)

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• This news ticker is updated regularly.

Update from December 17, 10:35 p.m.:

Switzerland is tightening its corona rules from Monday (December 20) due to the spread of the Omikron variant.

The home office obligation will be reintroduced, the Federal Council announced on Friday.

In addition, the 2G rule applies to numerous public institutions.

The Federal Council announced that only those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered will in future have access to restaurants, cultural, sports and leisure facilities and indoor events.

Only ten people, including children, are allowed to private meetings if one of the participants is not vaccinated or has recovered.

The entry rules in Austria will also be tightened from next Monday.

Omikron: Scotland is hit by the Corona "tsunami"

Update from December 17, 9:05 p.m.:

According to government information, more than half of the corona infections in Scotland can now be traced back to the Omikron variant.

The country will be hit by a "tsunami" of infections, said Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a press conference in Edinburgh on Friday.

At the beginning of the week, she had already called on people in her part of the country to limit their contacts to three households.

Shops and restaurants were also urged to reintroduce measures to contain the corona virus.

The Omikron variant is currently spreading at breakneck speed in Great Britain, at the same time there are still a high number of infections with the Delta variant.

More than 93,000 new infections were reported on Friday alone - another record.

There has also been an increase in hospital admissions, although not to the same extent as in infections.

Omikron on the advance: RKI classifies neighboring countries as high-risk areas

Update from December 17, 7:20 p.m.:

The federal government classifies Denmark as a high-risk area due to the high number of corona infections from Sunday.

Omikron now accounts for more than a fifth of the current corona cases in the neighboring country.

Also new to the list of high-risk areas are France, Norway, Lebanon and Andorra, as the RKI announced on Friday.

Anyone who enters from a high-risk area and is not fully vaccinated or recovered has to be in quarantine for ten days and can only get rid of it with a negative test five days after arrival at the earliest.

With the exception of Luxembourg, all of Germany's neighboring countries will be classified as high-risk areas in the future.

On the other hand, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Albania, North Macedonia and Moldova have been removed from the risk list.

Omikron on the rise: Denmark restricts public life

Update from December 17, 5:52 p.m.:

Omikron lets the corona numbers in Denmark continue to rise.

The Danish government now wants to further restrict public life.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced on Friday that museums, theaters, cinemas, zoos, amusement parks and event venues should close.

In addition, vaccination and testing are to be increased.

Parliament's pandemic committee approved the new measures in the evening.

They should come into force on Sunday at 8 a.m. and apply for four weeks.

In Denmark, with its 5.8 million inhabitants, a total of 11,194 new corona cases were reported on Friday.

More than a fifth of them make up the Omicron variant, said Frederiksen.

A total of 11,559 Omicron cases have been detected in Denmark since the end of November.

"We have to meet fewer people and keep our distance," appealed the head of government.

Omikron on the advance: The situation in Spain is coming to a head

Update from December 17, 3:36 p.m.:

The highly contagious

variant of the coronavirus is also spreading in Spain. In the region around the capital Madrid, Omikron now accounts for 30 percent of new infections, as the

newspaper

reported on Friday, citing doctors. Similar developments have also been reported from other parts of Spain. "It shoots up like foam," said Carlos Artundo, Director General for Public Health in Navarre in the north of the country. There the 7-day incidence reaches a national high of over 720. On the Balearic Islands, which are popular with German holidaymakers, the incidence is over 300.

Also due to the high vaccination rate of over 90 percent of the over 12 year olds in Spain, the situation in the hospitals is not so dramatic compared to Germany.

A total of almost 1300 patients were treated in intensive care units for a corona infection and thus occupied around 14 percent of the capacity of these wards.

Omikron on the advance: has South Africa already passed its peak?

Update from December 17th, 11:05 am:

Although the Omikron variant in South Africa continues to spread rapidly at the beginning of the summer holidays, the development in the particularly affected Gauteng province seems to have peaked. The proportion of new infections in the province around the metropolises Johannesburg and Pretoria in the nationwide new infections is now 25 percent. Ten days ago 80 percent of the nationwide corona cases came from Gauteng.

The fourth wave of infections driven by Omikron has now clearly exceeded the maximum values ​​of the previous waves in the number of new infections across the country.

However, the number of hospital admissions is well below that of previous waves of infection.

The duration of hospital stays for Covid patients also decreased drastically in the fourth wave, which was driven by Omikron, compared to previous waves of infection.

It fell from up to ten days in the third wave to less than half now, according to Waasila Jassat of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

But it is still too early to draw scientifically sound conclusions from this.

Omicron variant on the advance: Denmark also severely affected by mutation

Update from December 16, 8 p.m.:

In Denmark, almost 10,000 new corona cases were registered on Thursday - more than ever in a single day.

In around 3000 cases it is an omicron.

This was announced by the national serum institute in the evening.

A total of around 9,000 Omicron cases have been detected in Denmark since the end of November.

So-called superspreader events in nightlife in particular have led to the virus spreading quickly, according to the institute.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced new measures on Facebook to slow the spread.

"I have no doubt that new measures will be needed to break the chains of infection," she wrote.

Frederiksen did not give any details.

Omikron on the advance: Dozens of suspected cases at a German company

Update from December 16, 6:55 p.m.:

Omikron is also spreading in Germany.

38 employees of a company in North Rhine-Westphalia are suspected of being infected with the Omikron variant.

This was announced by the company concerned, the caravan manufacturer LMC in Sassenberg, Münsterland, on Thursday.

A spokeswoman said that it was not yet possible to provide any information as to whether the cases were suspected or even confirmed.

In the evening it was still unclear whether the so-called whole genome sequencing had taken place.

Only then can Omikron be unequivocally proven.

A corona infection had been detected in a total of 90 employees, and Omikron was suspected in 38 of them.

So far, only mild courses are known.

Omikron: Great Britain reports another record

Update from December 16, 6:25 p.m.:

Great Britain has recorded a peak in new corona infections for the second day in a row.

The UK authorities reported 88,376 new cases in one day on Thursday amid the spreading omicron variant of the virus.

The number of deaths rose by 146.

On Wednesday, the previous record of January 8th of this year was exceeded with 78,610.

The United Kingdom is one of the countries most affected by the corona pandemic in Europe.

The highly contagious omicron variant is now widespread there

Omikron: "Vaccination alone will not be enough"

First report from December 16:

London - Already with the first message about Omikron (B.1.1.529) the alarm bells rang for some Corona * researchers. Others, however, warned against panic-mongering. That was almost a month ago. The extent of Omikron is becoming clearer and clearer: Omikron challenges the world. The new coronavirus variant is highly contagious - more contagious than the Delta variant. Omikron outsmarts antibodies. Those who have recovered and who have been vaccinated can become infected. A vaccination protects against a severe course of Covid-19 *, experts agree. A booster - a booster vaccination - increases the immune defense by 75 percent. But even then, the protection against Omikron diminishes. Europe should prepare for Omikron, warned the European health authority ECDC on Wednesday.

"Vaccination alone will not be enough," said the director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Andrea Ammon, on Wednesday.

The time is too short to sufficiently increase the vaccination rate in Europe, which is still too low.

The authority classified the public health risk from Omikron as "very high".

Omikron: take precautionary measures at Christmas

It is "very likely" that the new virus variant will lead to additional hospitalizations and deaths beyond the extent already predicted because of the currently still dominant delta variant. In order to avoid overloading the health system, restrictions must be quickly reintroduced or tightened, warned the ECDC. Employees should return to work from home if possible, and precautionary measures should be taken when celebrating and traveling around the holidays.

The data from Great Britain and Denmark are worrying.

The countries are seen as role models in genome sequencing.

In Denmark, the number of Omicron cases has risen to 6,047 and is increasing day by day.

"This confirms that the Omikron variant will be a major challenge for our society this winter," says Henrik Ullum, head of the Serum Institute (SSI), about the situation.

The Danish institute worries about its health system.

Omikron: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promotes vaccination.

© LEON NEAL / afp

Great Britain - Omicron wave sweeps across the country

The number of infections is skyrocketing in the UK. "The Omicron wave continues to sweep across the UK," said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at a press conference at Downing Street on Wednesday evening. He almost pleaded with the British to get a booster vaccination.

The UK recorded the highest number of new infections ever recorded in a day, with 78,610 cases on Wednesday.

The number of cases with the omicron variant is now doubling in less than two days, Johnson continued.

There has also been an increase in hospital admissions.

Chief medical advisor to the government, Chris Whitty, added the country is currently facing two different coronavirus epidemics, one with the Delta variant and a second, much more rapidly progressing, Omicron variant.

Omikron: Great Britain is reintroducing stricter corona measures

The British government had parliament approve stricter corona measures against massive opposition from the conservative ruling party on Tuesday.

These include mask requirements in shops and public transport and 3G rules for discos and certain major events.

France tightened travel restrictions for Great Britain because of the Omikron variant

France is reacting to the high numbers of infections and Omicron cases on the island and tightening travel restrictions for Great Britain.

Unnecessary trips to or from the Kingdom will be prohibited from Saturday, the government announced on Thursday.

Further measures are to be discussed in a crisis meeting on Friday.

When will the Omikron wave come to Germany?

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is also relying on further broad booster vaccinations with a view to the more contagious Coronavirus variant Omikron.

But there is a lack of data on how Omikron is currently circulating in Germany.

There is an unreported omicron number.