Summer wave is rolling - Corona case numbers in Germany are skyrocketing: RKI warns of variants
Created: 06/15/2022, 04:56
By: Martina Lippl
The WHO is also targeting the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
(symbol photo) © Imago Images
Corona experts have been warning of a summer wave in 2022 for some time.
Now the corona numbers are increasing significantly.
The omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 play a role in this.
Berlin – After more than two years of the corona pandemic, many can hardly hear it anymore: The corona pandemic is not over yet.
And now the summer of 2022 won't give us a break either.
The fifth corona wave has hardly flattened out before the next one is apparently building up.
Is the third Corona summer looming now?
Corona in Germany: RKI reports more than 100,000 new infections
The number of new coronavirus infections is currently developing very dynamically.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports 105,840 cases on Tuesday.
The nationwide incidence increases to 447.3 (previous day: 331.8).
In addition, 107 people died with or from Corona.
A comparison with the values from the previous week makes little sense due to the limited reports on Whit Monday.
There is less testing overall and only PCR tests are included in the RKI’s Covid statistics.
But the values are clear.
The RKI reports 105,840 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday (June 14)
107 deaths were reported within 24 hours.
Nationwide incidence is 447.3 (331.8)
Corona in Germany: This is the situation in the intensive care units
The downward trend of the past few weeks has stopped in the intensive care units.
659 Covid patients currently have to be treated in intensive care.
Of these, 237 are artificially ventilated.
This emerges from the data of the DIVI intensive care register - as of Tuesday (June 14).
"A summer wave was to be expected," said Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) on the corona situation on Twitter.
In the past few weeks, Lauterbach has been rather atypical when it comes to the summer wave.
“There could actually be a summer wave.
It's not certain yet," the 59-year-old tweeted.
Now the summer wave is apparently rolling in.
According to the Federal Minister, Germany is actually preparing for the next corona wave and various scenarios in autumn.
Corona in Germany: New Omikron variants BA.4 and BA.5 are spreading rapidly in Europe
Although the Omikron types BA.4 and BA.5 still play a subordinate role in Germany, that could change quickly.
In Portugal, the omicron subvariant BA.5 has been dominant since the end of May.
The incidence is 1,539 according to the latest report from the National Health Institute INSA.
The trend is declining across the country, except in the Lisbon region, the Tagus Valley and Madeira.
The hospitalization rate is stable and indicates a mild course in BA.5 - similar to the omicron wave at the beginning of 2022. According to the analysis of the Portuguese health authorities, the specific mortality shows an increasing trend and is therefore 50.1 deaths in 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants.
Mortality is generally higher than expected for the season.
also read
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Corona development in Portugal: Drosten "worried" - and without "obvious explanations"
Why is Omikron BA.5 spreading so rapidly in Europe and Germany?
According to the INSA report, the
omicron subtype BA.5 is more
contagious.
Additional mutations could be responsible, making it easier to enter human cells and/or tricking the body's immune system (so-called immune escape advantage).
So, also the immune system that the body has formed through a vaccination or an infection.
Omicron BA.5 has a mutation on the spike protein.
This mutation can also be found in the omicron subtype BA.4.
"The sub-variant BA.5 is even more contagious than all previous variants, so it can also spread under the adverse conditions for the virus in summer," epidemiologist Timo Ulrichs from the Akkon University of Human Sciences in Berlin explains to the dpa news agency.
According to the current state of knowledge, BA.5 can also escape the immune system, even if it has already had contact with omicron variants, Ulrichs warns.
Even fully vaccinated people are not immune to infection.
"This means a large number of hosts are eligible for dissemination."
Omicron subvariant BA.5 - the most important things at a glance
Omicron subvariants BA.5 and BA.4 have been classified by the WHO as "variant of concern" (VOCs).
Characteristics: L452R mutation in the spike protein (already detected in Delta).
Proven for the first time: South Africa
In Germany, the RKI gives the proportion of BA.5 at 10 percent (status: RKI weekly report of June 9, 2022).
For comparison, in May the share of Omikron BA.5 was 2.5 percent.
Omikron BA.5 is spreading so quickly in Germany
According to the RKI, the proportion of sublines BA.4 and BA.5 is currently growing the most.
"This suggests that these omicron sublines should account for the majority of evidence in a few weeks," said the RKI in its weekly report.
The RKI also gives a prognosis on the course of the pandemic with a view to the omicron sublines BA.4 and BA.5: "In all likelihood, these two sublines will spread more, so that there will be an overall increase in the number of infections and a new one increased infection pressure on vulnerable groups of people can come as early as summer.”
Omikron BA.5 can hardly be stopped - Lauterbach recommends masks and 4th vaccination
According to corona experts, Omikron BA.5 can hardly be stopped.
How the wave will actually develop is currently difficult to predict.
There are hardly any corona measures left.
Many no longer wear an FFP2 mask.
Vaccination protects less against infection.
"Due to its high protective effect against a severe course, vaccination has not lost its importance even in diseases caused by the omicron variant," emphasizes the RKI again.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach writes on Twitter: “Voluntarily wearing masks indoors and a 4th vaccination are the best antidotes.
The fourth vaccination protects against serious illness and reduces the risk of infection for a few months, albeit incompletely.
That helps a lot now.”
By the way: The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) has so far recommended a second booster vaccination or a 4th corona vaccination to all people over the age of 70 and certain groups of people.
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