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Deadly threat to China - for Europe, however, Omikron is probably the turning point in the pandemic

2022-01-13T08:59:30.757Z


Deadly threat to China - for Europe, however, Omikron is probably the turning point in the pandemic Created: 01/13/2022, 09:48 AM From: Georg Anastasiadis A comment by Georg Anastasiadis, editor-in-chief of Münchner Merkur. © Uncredited / CHINATOPIX / AP / dpa / Marcus Schlaf The mutation is reshuffling the cards: while Europe is learning to live with the corona virus, Omikron is becoming a de


Deadly threat to China - for Europe, however, Omikron is probably the turning point in the pandemic

Created: 01/13/2022, 09:48 AM

From: Georg Anastasiadis

A comment by Georg Anastasiadis, editor-in-chief of Münchner Merkur.

© Uncredited / CHINATOPIX / AP / dpa / Marcus Schlaf

The mutation is reshuffling the cards: while Europe is learning to live with the corona virus, Omikron is becoming a deadly threat for China.

A comment by Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.

It wasn't long ago that the regime in Beijing was celebrated as the shining winner in the global corona pandemic: While the West groaned under the weight of many deaths and increasingly angry street protests, it was in China, where the virus began its worldwide epidemic , Quiet.

The rigorous “zero covid strategy” with the months-long lockdown of megacities and the seamless monitoring of people prevented the virus from spreading, and the economy continued to run largely undisturbed.

Europe has moved to a "controlled contamination" strategy

But the appearance of the highly contagious omicron mutation has also reshuffled the cards in the global competition of systems: In China, the number of new infections is increasing massively, the regime has to lock down more and more metropolises without being able to prevent the virus from spreading. Beijing's zero-covid plan threatens to collapse. In the meantime, Europe has adopted a strategy of "controlled contamination" and believes it is at the end of the pandemic: high vaccination rates, a higher number of convalescent patients and the lower lethality of Omikron compared to Delta allow high numbers of infections and thus natural immunization of the population to reach.

Europe is learning to live with the virus, but that does not happen without conflicts: How necessary are general vaccination obligations when the existing vaccines are not very accurate against Omikron and so the hope of less dramatic disease progression grows?

And what degree of restrictions are necessary to prevent the omicron wave from piling up too steeply?

Even Söder's cautious Bavaria is now moving away from the “hotspot lockdown” for areas with incidences over 1000.

The debate will continue to shake our society.

But it is becoming increasingly clear that Omikron will be the turning point in the pandemic: The mutation is an opportunity for Europe.

A deadly threat to authoritarian China, which has long triumphed.

Source: merkur

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