Virologist Drosten brings 1G into play - "Omikron makes the rules"

Created: 12/24/2021, 10:45 AM

By: Mark Stoffers

The corona incidence in Lower Saxony is falling.

But virologist Christian Drosten is already looking at Omikron and introducing a corona rule with 1G.

Hanover - Christmas Eve is coming up in Lower Saxony and despite the stricter corona rules at Christmas, people are looking forward to reflective holidays due to the falling corona incidence.

Even if the state has adjusted the Corona regulation again and extended the Christmas rest until mid-January.

Nevertheless, the virologist Christian Drosten is once again urgently warning of the impending omicron wave and brings a possible new corona rule into play with 1G.

According to Drosten, “G will then be boosted” and not as 1G was originally intended.

At least that's how the Corona expert put it in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".

Corona incidence in Lower Saxony: seven-day incidence falls according to RKI - for Drosten "Omikron is now writing the rules"

After the corona incidence in Lower Saxony had skyrocketed in the past few weeks and warning level 3 had been declared, the number of infections has fallen slightly in the past few days.

On December 24, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported a seven-day incidence of 156.0 and 16 new deaths related to Sars-CoV-2 in the state.

The clear front runner in Lower Saxony is still the district of Verden with an incidence of 377.3, followed by Wolfsburg (238.2), Salzgitter (212.8) and the district of Diepholz (206.8).

The district is therefore still the Corona hotspot in the state governed by Prime Minister Stephan Weil.

Corona incidence in Germany: For Drosten “Omikron is now writing the rules” - virologist brings 1G “for boosted” into play

Meanwhile, virologist Christian Drosten again emphasized that despite the falling corona numbers in Germany and Lower Saxony, he did not feel safe.

The nationwide incidence on Christmas Eve was 265.8.

In addition, the RKI reported a total of 370 deaths related to Covid-19.

When asked whether a lockdown is needed in Germany, Drosten said in an interview with the "Süddeutsche Zeitung": It is necessary to wait and see "whether and how the measures that are now in force and that have been followed up again will work".

It was only on Tuesday that the new federal government decided on stricter corona rules, also with regard to Omikron, at the corona summit.

Virologist Christian Drosten warns of a new corona mutation.

"Omikron makes the rules" and brings a 1G rule into play.

© Michael Kappeler |

dpa

If the contact restrictions, which Lower Saxony also recorded in the Lockdown light, do not show the hoped-for success, one could, according to Drosten's assessment, consider restrictions to which only people who have already been boosted have access - which he referred to as 1G.

Twice-vaccinated people are protected from severe courses even with Omikron, "but practically not against infection," the virologist explained in an interview.

The virus transmission in the event of infection is also hardly reduced.

“But those who have recently been boosted are likely to contribute less to the spread and are noticeably protected against the disease.

At Delta, 2G and 3G may be enough, but now Omikron is writing the rules. "

Corona in Germany: masks "particularly effective" - ​​Drosten sees the country better positioned with the impending omikron wave

According to the current state of affairs, he believes that the current contact measures that have now been implemented in this country made the increase in the number of cases a little slower than in other countries that had been inundated by the Omikron wave.

“In Great Britain and South Africa, the numbers have shot up because there were no more control measures.” For example, wearing a mask seems to be “particularly effective”.

"Therefore, and because people are also cautious in their private lives, we are better positioned in Germany."

Drosten warns of omicrons and vaccination gaps even in the elderly - "many deaths if we let the virus run through now"

Drosten has been pointing out the large vaccination gap for a long time, especially with regard to the older population.

“If we let the virus go through now, we will have many deaths and full intensive care units.

You shouldn't turn a blind eye to that, that's why politics also act, "he said in the interview with the" SZ ".

It is still uncertain whether Omikron per se makes you less seriously ill.

"The latest studies from South Africa, England and Scotland agree that the weakening of the disease-causing effect is largely, but not exclusively, due to the increasing immunity of the population," says Drostens.

Charité chief virologist Drosten on Omikron: New study could provide an indication of the weakened course of the corona variant

However, one could not infer too much from any of these preliminary studies. "In the overall view of the experimental results, together with the epidemiological data available so far, one can get the feeling that Omikron could be weakened a little," said the Charité chief virologist Drosten to "ZEIT ONLINE".

However, the results from experiments with pseudoviruses, for example, cannot be transferred to the real virus.

Nonetheless, despite all methodological reservations, all previous results have gone in a similar direction, says Drosten.

Such laboratory tests, says virologist Sandra Ciesek from the Frankfurt University Hospital, can only be transferred to the clinical picture in humans to a very limited extent.

“I'm waiting for data from animal models and the clinic,” she says.

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