The former corona hotspots in eastern Germany are currently reporting relatively low values, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute. While the incidence for the whole of Germany is 407.5, Saxony with 239.5 has the lowest value of all 16 states, ahead of Saxony-Anhalt with 254.4 and Thuringia with 277.6. At the top is Bremen with 1,296.8 and Berlin with 856.4.
The social minister there, Petra Köpping (SPD), explains the sharp decline in incidence in Saxony partly with the regionally tightened corona rules: “They were tough measures, they were tough cuts,” says Köpping. The Leipzig epidemiologist Markus Scholz sees it similarly: “Through the measures (in adults) we have achieved a contact reduction of 50 percent.” For this reason, the wave of infections with the delta variant flattened out earlier. The highly contagious Omikron variant is initially less common in Saxony than in other regions. If Omikron prevails, however, Scholz believes that the situation will change quickly. “We expect a rise again by the end of January at the latest. There will be record numbers again”. The Ministry of Health in Thuringia shares this view. “After all the forecasts and calculations, we assume that the situation in Thuringia will worsen again,” said a spokeswoman. (01/12/2022)
- How useful are rapid tests? (SZ Plus)
More new infections than ever in Germany
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 80 430 new corona infections within 24 hours, a new high for Germany. Exactly one week ago there were 58,912 new infections recorded, although there had been gaps in tests and reports over the course of the holidays.
The nationwide seven-day incidence rose from 387.9 to 407.5. The value indicates how many people per 100,000 population have contracted the coronavirus in the past seven days. 384 people died related to the virus. This brings the number of reported deaths to 114,735.
The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was given by the RKI on Tuesday as 3.34 (Monday with 3.37). The RKI stated the number of those who had recovered on Wednesday morning as 6,836,600. (01/12/2022)
Expert warns against using antigen tests for free testing
In the debate about the reliability of antigen tests, one expert warns of false safety through negative test results. “Freestyle testing only with an antigen test, that is not possible,” said the chairman of the professional association of German laboratory doctors, Andreas Bobrowski, of the German press agency. He referred to plans by the federal government to enable early free testing from quarantine not only with PCR tests, but also with “high quality” antigen tests. Because antigen tests, which include self-tests and rapid tests, often do not work, especially when the virus load is low, this is a problematic signal, says Bobrowski.
The viral load tends to drop quite quickly, especially in Omikron, especially in vaccinated people. Bobrowski pointed out that the difference in the reliability of all antigen tests is “very significant” compared to the PCR test, especially in the case of asymptomatic corona infections. While the PCR tests almost always provided correct results in the detection of corona infections even with a low viral load, the antigen test was correctly positive in asymptomatic courses with a low viral load in only about half of the infected, said the expert.
With regard to PCR tests, the Ministry of Health recently stated that the possible weekly capacity of 2.4 million tests would not yet be exhausted with currently up to 1.5 million PCR tests. The chairman of the Association of Accredited Laboratories in Medicine (ALM), Michael Müller, said, according to the announcement: “The burden in the laboratories is considerable, but I see no reason for too much concern.” (01/12/2022)
Patient advocate calls for Scholz to move away from compulsory vaccinations
The patient advocate Eugen Brysch calls on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to give up the plan of a general corona vaccination. “The discussion about the compulsory vaccination is currently overshadowing everything. But whether it will really come is becoming more and more unlikely,” said the board of directors of the German Foundation for Patient Protection. “Even if the Chancellor has made vaccination a top priority, Olaf Scholz should now have the size to turn back. Because more urgent issues have been postponed for far too long.”
The questions about compulsory vaccination are very complex, says Brysch. Anyone who wants to get started now must also explain how the exit from duty will be possible. “And that against the background that neither virus variants can be stopped in the future nor that vaccination leads to sterile immunity,” argues the patient advocate. It is clear, however, that the vaccination is the best protection for yourself.
Therefore, Brysch is also demanding an offer of a fourth dose of vaccine against the coronavirus for everyone by the summer. “Everyone should have the opportunity to be able to take advantage of a fourth vaccination offer with the currently available active ingredients by the summer,” said Brysch to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The intensive care doctor Christian Karagiannidis, who is also a member of the German government’s Corona Expert Council, advises against offering a fourth vaccination now. “With a systematic fourth vaccination, we should wait until an adapted vaccine is available,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group. (01/12/2022)
Fauci: Omikron will hit almost everyone
According to leading US expert Anthony Fauci, the extremely contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus will sooner or later affect almost everyone. “With the extraordinary and unprecedented effectiveness of the transfer, Omikron will ultimately find almost everyone,” said the immunologist and presidential adviser. Vaccinated people would also get infected, but most of them would not have it that hard, so they would not have to go to hospital or they would not die, Fauci said in an interview with the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies , CSIS).
The worst will be those who are still not vaccinated, said Fauci. In the United States, only 208 million people, or just under 63 percent of the population, are fully vaccinated. Only 76 million people have received a booster vaccination so far.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had recently warned of rising case numbers in Europe. In the next two months, more than half of the people on the continent could become infected with Omikron. Omikron represents a tidal wave that rolls from west to east across the WHO region of Europe, which also includes non-European countries, and adds to the rise in delta numbers that the countries would have experienced by the end of 2021, said WHO regional director Hans Kluge at an online press conference in Copenhagen. (01/12/2022)
Biontech and Pfizer produce Omikron-adapted vaccine
The Mainz-based pharmaceutical company Biontech and its US partner Pfizer have started production of a corona vaccine adapted to the Omikron variant for later commercial use. Biontech boss Uğur Şahin announced this at a conference. A clinical study on the vaccine will begin at the end of January. “We assume that we will be ready to supply the market by March, when the regulatory approvals are in place,” said Şahin.
The coronavirus vaccines currently used by various manufacturers were originally developed against the so-called wild type of Sars-CoV-2, which was first discovered in China at the end of 2019. While the agents used since the turn of the year 2020/2021 also showed their effect against later virulent mutants such as Alpha or Delta, it could look different with Omikron.
According to Biontech, there is still a long way to go from a pandemic to an endemic development, i.e. to a less serious situation than at present. Safe predictions are not possible, said Şahin. Due to its spread all over the world, the coronavirus has a huge reservoir for new variants that could spread quickly. Last year, Biontech and Pfizer manufactured around three billion doses of vaccine worldwide. The market share for December 2021 was estimated at 80 percent in Europe and 74 percent in the USA. For the financial year 2022, Biontech estimates sales from the corona vaccine alone at 13 to 17 billion euros, for the financial year 2021 at 16 to 17 billion.
Germany has meanwhile secured five million Biontech vaccine doses that were actually intended for Romania. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, they came from the EU contingents, but were not needed by Romania. In total, around 32 million vaccine doses should be available in the three weeks of January 17, 24 and 31, as it was further said – twelve million from Biontech and 20 million from Moderna. (01/11/2022)
Spain’s Prime Minister wants to classify Covid-19 as endemic
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has encouraged his European partners to debate the question of treating Covid-19 no longer as a pandemic but as an endemic disease and establishing a model for monitoring virus evolution, similar to that used for the flu. “This is a necessary debate,” said Sánchez in an interview with the radio station Cadena Ser. He pointed out that coronavirus lethality has declined since the pandemic began.
The Omikron variant has caused the number of infections to skyrocket in large parts of Europe in the past few weeks. However, the number of hospital admissions and deaths is lower than with previous variants. Sánchez said there might now be reasons to “cautiously” assess the disease using different parameters than those previously used. The Spanish government has been working on a new monitoring concept in the past few weeks, said Sánchez. Health Minister Carolina Darias discussed the matter with her European colleagues.
The Spanish Ministry of Health reported almost 692,000 new infections in the past seven days, and 13.4 percent of hospital beds are occupied by corona patients. A year ago it was 13.8 percent when the number of new cases within a week was just over 115,000. (01/11/2022)