Omicron, the end of Corona?

Virologist assumes 100 percent immunization in autumn

Created: 01/20/2022, 12:55 p.m

By: Sebastian Horsch, Marc Beyer

Does the omicron wave herald the end of the corona pandemic?

© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa

The number of infections is still rising rapidly, but we are already looking ahead.

Experts think it is possible that the corona virus will soon lose its horror.

Numbers from abroad seem to support this theory.

Munich - Omikron still has the country firmly under control.

The Robert Koch Institute* (RKI) gave the number of new infections on Wednesday as 112,323.

The value thus exceeded the 100,000 mark for the first time.

And that, suspects Karl Lauterbach*, was far from the summit.

The Federal Minister of Health assumes “that we will reach the peak of the wave in mid-February”.

But what comes after that?

The Corona situation will ease in spring

Forecasts have repeatedly proven difficult during the pandemic, but with the knowledge from now five waves, some things can perhaps be predicted a little more precisely.

The virologist Klaus Stöhr assumes that the situation will relax significantly in spring.

"We will then have the need for measures and large-scale tests behind us," he told our newspaper.

Stöhr believes that the rate of infection will even decrease dramatically by the summer.

The virus will continue to circulate at a low level.

In autumn, the season of respiratory diseases begins again.

Whether further vaccinations will then be necessary will depend on the natural immunity in the population that has been achieved through infections.

However, Stöhr believes that the over-60s at most need another booster.

"In the following year, almost 100% immunization will be achieved in adults."

Epidemiologist Klaus Stöhr: The situation will ease.

© teutopress/Imago Images

A look abroad could give a faint premonition of what is soon to come.

Countries like Great Britain*, which has extremely reduced the measures for six months, and South Africa, where omicron was first detected, were weeks ahead of Germany in the spread of the variant.

While the RKI is now always announcing new highs, the development in the kingdom is already going in the opposite direction.

Infection numbers in other countries are falling massively

The omicron wall that piled up in the statistics has become a veritable abyss in a very short time. At the beginning of the month there were around 200,000 infections per day - now there are around half. The trend in South Africa is similar, also in New York. In all of these places, the numbers rose for about three weeks before collapsing.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is under massive domestic pressure and needs good news, is already announcing that the measures* will be lifted.

From January 27th, wearing masks will no longer be mandatory.

“Since Corona* is becoming endemic, we have to replace the legal obligations with advice and recommendations.” The government plans to end isolation for those who have tested positive for March.

You don't force people to "isolate themselves if they have the flu".

Infection numbers in France refute the trend

However, this development cannot be transferred arbitrarily.

A counter-example is France, where the trend remains upwards.

Almost half a million new infections were reported yesterday.

In Israel (9.4 million inhabitants) there was also a new high with 71,000.

The bioinformatician Lars Kaderali, who is a member of the Federal Government's Expert Council, assumes that the infections will continue to increase rapidly before there is a certain saturation and then a decline.

"The question of price is when the infections will affect hospital admissions." The advantage of the milder omicron courses can be outweighed by the sheer number of cases.

Nevertheless, Kaderali hopes “that this will be the last major pandemic wave that we will see”.

Karl Lauterbach is not quite so optimistic.

"The Delta variant is currently changing," he said of the

.

It is quite possible "that we will be dealing with a mutated Delta type in the fall."