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Laboratory analyzes: four to eight percent of the positive corona samples are sequenced
Photo: Max Kovalenko / Lichtgut / imago images
95 percent of the coronavirus samples examined in more detail in Germany contain variants that are classified as worrying, reported the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Wednesday.
So far, the more contagious variant B.1.1.7, which was discovered in Great Britain at the end of 2020, has been detected.
Of 54,000 samples analyzed between April 12 and 18, 93 percent were attributable to B.1.1.7.
Other variants that are also classified as worrying, however, remain rare.
The virus line B.1.351 discovered in South Africa and the mutant P.1 initially registered in Brazil have so far only been discovered sporadically in Germany.
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Both virus variants carry mutations that apparently allow the pathogen to bypass the immune protection of previously infected and vaccinated people to a certain extent.
These then still have better defense mechanisms than unvaccinated people and people who have not yet been infected, but are less protected against the variants classified as problematic than against the original type of coronavirus.
Mutant from India also detected
B.1.351 and P.1, however, are not the only new variants of the coronavirus that carry potentially problematic mutations.
Line B.1.617, which also carries genetic changes on the binding protein of the virus, the so-called spike protein, is currently spreading in India.
With this, the coronavirus penetrates human cells.
The mutations could also make this virus line more contagious and enable it to partially bypass immune protection.
The details are still unclear.
At the World Health Organization (WHO) and the RKI, B.1.617 is under observation, but it has not yet been classified as worrying.
"So far there is no evidence for this," said the RKI in response to a request from SPIEGEL.
In Germany, B.1.617 has been detected 21 times so far.
How often it actually occurs cannot be said, however, because only a fraction of the positive corona samples are checked to determine which form of Sars-CoV-2 it is exactly.
85,000 virus genomes examined
The sequencing laboratories in Germany have been supposed to determine at least five percent of the genomes in Sars-CoV-2 positive samples since January and report them to the RKI.
The RKI itself also analyzes the genetic material of positive corona samples and uses information from scientific databases.
"Currently, around four to eight percent of positive samples are recorded weekly in Germany and broken down with regard to the circulating Sars-CoV-2 lines," according to the RKI.
In 2020, the value was 0.1 to 0.2 percent.
According to the RKI, almost 85,000 complete virus genomes were examined in Germany by April 11th in 2021.
This enabled the expansion of the B.1.1.7 line to be followed.
"This means that Germany has a sensitive system in order to be able to identify virus variants that occur very rarely," according to the RKI.
In Great Britain, which already sequenced extensively last year, around ten percent of the positive samples were analyzed before the rapid increase in the number of corona cases in November 2020, which was favored by B.1.1.7.
This made it possible to follow the expansion of the new variant in detail.
According to the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium, experts in the UK have now sequenced more than 440,000 Sars-CoV-2 viruses.
Variant B.1.617, which first appeared in India, was also identified.
77 cases have been detected in the country so far, according to the RKI in its report on Wednesday.
Rapid expansion in India
B.1.617 was first found in the Indian state of Maharashtra and is spreading rapidly there.
It is now also circulating in other Indian states.
The number of corona cases has been increasing faster and faster across the country for weeks.
Most recently, more new infections and deaths were registered there than ever before in the pandemic that has been going on for more than a year.
The Ministry of Health reported 295,000 infections and 2,000 deaths related to Covid-19 on Wednesday.
In addition to the spread of the new mutant, experts see the main reason for the rapid increase in carelessness.
There were long mass events for upcoming regional elections and religious festivals where people don't wear masks and don't keep their distance.
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In absolute terms, India is worst hit by the pandemic after the US, with more than 15 million infections recorded.
More than 180,000 people have died in connection with the coronavirus.
The health system is partly overloaded.
Around 1.3 billion people live in India.
With material from dpa