Omicron subtype BA.2 causes scientists concern - Lauterbach and Wieler express themselves

Created: 02/24/2022, 21:35

By: Yasina Hipp

RKI boss Lothar Wieler (l) and Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD).

© imago/Chris Emil Janssen

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), RKI boss Lother Wieler and Andreas Gassen, CEO of the KBV, will talk about the further development of the corona situation.

The press conference in the live ticker.

Berlin – The corona situation in this country seems to have eased a bit for a few days.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) repeatedly publishes falling values ​​for the seven-day incidence.

Nevertheless, the number of new infections is still at a high level with more than 200,000 reports.

A total of over 14 million infections with the corona virus have been recorded in Germany since the beginning of the pandemic.

Experts suspect an even higher number of unreported cases.

Not only is the seven-day incidence falling slowly but steadily, but so is the hospitalization rate (as of February 24th: 6.27).

This means a decreasing burden on hospitals and intensive care units.

Corona virus: omicron subtype BA.2 could become dangerous - press conference with Lauterbach and Wieler

Despite all the optimism, scientists, especially a team led by mathematician Kai Nagel from the Technical University of Berlin (TU), are sounding the alarm.

The BA.2 subtype of the omicron virus variant is even easier to transmit than the BA.1 omicron subtype, which has been widespread in Germany to date.

According to the scientists, there is currently an overlap between the waning BA.1 wave and the possible rising BA.2 wave.

The development of this new wave depends on leisure activities and cross-immunity.

In the worst case, the coming wave could exceed the mid-February level by up to 2.5 times, according to a report by the TU experts.

Corona loosening: Further opening steps are pending - Lauterbach and Wieler comment

The news about the omicron subtype BA.2 comes at a bad time.

Just a few days ago, politicians announced far-reaching easing.

Large openings are planned for one week in particular, on March 4th: more spectators are to be admitted to major national events, including sports, discotheques and clubs should be able to open again under 2G-plus and 3G will apply again in restaurants and hotels .

From March 20th, the plan is to lift almost all of the measures that are still in force.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), RKI boss Lothar Wieler and Andreas Gassen, CEO of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) appear in front of the press on Friday to discuss further developments in the corona pandemic.

It remains to be seen whether the new information on the omicron subtype BA.2 will have an impact on further relaxation steps.

We will report on the results of the federal press conference from 10 a.m. in the live ticker.