Lauterbach sees "light at the end of the tunnel"

Created: 01/01/2022Updated: 01/01/2022, 12:02 PM

According to Karl Lauterbach, he celebrated the New Year with a small group of friends.

© Kay Nietfeld / dpa

The corona numbers are rising again.

The extent of the Omikron wave in Germany is unclear due to the holidays.

But the variant could be less dangerous - and lead to a more relaxed phase.

Berlin - With cautious optimism, but also with concern for the unvaccinated, the federal government and prominent virologists are looking at the coming pandemic development at the start of the new year.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) said on the ZDF New Year's Eve show that there would be “light at the end of the tunnel” for next year.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported an increase in the official seven-day incidence for the third day in a row today, Saturday.

The value was 220.3 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week, with the RKI assuming under-recording on the holidays.

184 deaths

It is therefore currently unclear how high the Omikron wave is in Germany.

Its climax is still to be expected.

The health authorities reported 26,392 new corona infections to the RKI within one day.

There were 184 new deaths.

Lauterbach said the Omikron variant would be another tough challenge.

"But it looks like this variant would be a little less dangerous than the Delta variant," said Lauterbach.

That is a ray of hope.

It is not yet known exactly whether this also applies to the unvaccinated.

The Berlin virologist Christian Drosten said on Friday on Deutschlandfunk that Omikron's disease severity was very likely to be lessened.

The data for this increased.

An unvaccinated person with Omicron infection carries three quarters of the risk of hospitalizing an unvaccinated person with Delta.

The Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck had expressed the hope of "a milder wave".

Many unvaccinated people in Germany

Compared to other countries, Drosten sees Germany as the "special problem" of the many unvaccinated people.

Because of the rapid spread of Omikron, with new infections doubling about every four days, it is now "really dangerous" for people who have not yet been vaccinated or recovered.

At least 71.2 percent of the total population have the immune protection of usually two vaccinations.

At least 38.7 percent also received a booster vaccination.

On December 31, 112,000 vaccine doses were administered (as of January 1, 9:01 a.m.).

According to Lauterbach, he shares Drosten's assessment that Germany now has the chance of an endemic situation.

“But it is only a chance, it is not a certainty.” Lauterbach explained that if the virus were endemic, then “at no point in time” would there be a risk of an overburdened health system.

You would then be able to live with the virus.

Drosten had named South Africa as a possible example of such a future, from which Germany was still a long way away.

Lauterbach said Omikron may form a bridge.

"But we don't yet know for sure, because we don't yet know how dangerous the Omicron variant is for those who are completely unvaccinated."

Italy high risk area

The popular holiday countries Italy and Malta have meanwhile been classified as high-risk areas since Saturday.

The reason is their high number of corona infections.

Canada and San Marino in northeastern Italy are now also classified in this way by the federal government.

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.

The island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, on the other hand, has now been removed from the risk list.

more on the subject

RKI reports more than 50,000 new corona infections - 235 Covid deaths in one day

Gunslinger: Through the pandemic with ease

Almost all of Austria and the Czech Republic are high-risk areas

Associated with the classification is a travel warning from the Federal Foreign Office for unnecessary tourist trips.

It makes it easier for tourists to cancel trips that have already been booked free of charge, but does not mean a travel ban.

dpa