Virologist Drosten: "Corona pandemic is over"
Created: 12/26/2022, 1:14 p.m
By: Diana Rissmann
According to virologist Christian Drosten, the corona pandemic is over.
Other experts have already commented on this.
Berlin - "This winter we are experiencing the first endemic wave with Sars-CoV-2, in my opinion the corona pandemic is over," said Christian Drosten, head of virology at the Berlin University Hospital Charité, the
Tagesspiegel
.
According to Drosten, the immunity in the population will be so broad and resilient after this winter that the virus will hardly be able to get through in the summer.
The only limitation mentioned by virology was another mutational leap in the virus.
"But I don't expect that anymore at the moment either."
Christian Drosten is convinced that we are now in the first endemic corona wave and that the pandemic is over.
(Archive image) © Stefan Boness/Ipon via www.imago-images.de
Corona pandemic over?
Other experts agree with Drosten
Several experts now share the assessment that Corona is now an endemic, including intensive care physician Christian Karagiannidis, who is also a member of the Federal Government’s Corona Expert Council.
In an interview with the
editorial network Germany
(RND), he answered in the affirmative whether the pandemic would be over after the winter.
“I expect that the pandemic will now be phased out.
Certainly there will still be one or the other small wave.
However, the immunity situation of the population is solid and there are significantly fewer Covid patients in the intensive care units.
For example, the chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), Thomas Mertens.
In his view, a pandemic is primarily defined by the fact that a globally unknown pathogen with which people have no immunological experience breaks into the population.
That is no longer the case, Mertens said at the end of October.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach was also optimistic a few weeks ago: "Hopefully next winter will be the last major battle with the corona virus," the politician told the
Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin
in early December .
Accordingly, the “virus would have mutated into a dead end”.
But despite all the optimism, Lauterbach remains true to his cautious line and does not want to give the all-clear: “There is no reason for carelessness.
It's too early for further easing," he said.
(dir/dpa)