Status: 01.12.2021 05:05
The Corona variant Omikron, which is classified as worrying, has already been detected several times in Germany. Experts say they may have brought them in for a while when they are returning from their travels. How much is Omikron already circulating in this country?
After the first evidence of the Omikron variant in Germany, experts assume an occurrence that already goes beyond this. The period in which travelers were already spreading the virus internationally was certainly weeks, said Oliver Keppler, board member at the Max von Pettenkofer Institute of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, when asked by the dpa. “There may be a few hundred cases in Germany.”
However, the current infection numbers in Germany cannot be associated with Omikron, that is the delta wave, emphasized Keppler. He considers a larger undiscovered omicron distribution in Germany to be unlikely.
Health system “already with its back to the wall”
At the Max von Pettenkofer Institute, Omikron cases were found in Bavaria. Shortly after it became known, the variant was classified as worrying by the World Health Organization.
Several countries around the world have now reported evidence. The Robert Koch Institute has not yet published total figures for Germany. “In view of the delta infection dynamics, our health system is already in a dead end with its back to the wall,” said Keppler, explaining the possible influence of the new variant on the current wave. “Now a car with a defective brake is driving towards it.”
It is true that omicron properties are still difficult to assess with regard to transferability, reduction in vaccine effectiveness and the severity of the disease. What is known so far, however, gives rise to fear of a worsening of the situation. Therefore, there is now “the greatest pressure to act to break the fourth wave.”
The consequences of Omikron are difficult to assess
The virologist Sandra Ciesek expects that more can only be said about the duration and extent of the international Omikron distribution in the near future. This will be learned in the next few weeks when laboratories, for example, analyze reserve samples from the past few weeks.
The RKI also announced that it would analyze genome sequences obtained in the past. The fact that European countries only recognized the variant in travelers after South Africa and other countries warned about it probably means that many cases have so far gone undetected, tweeted the Austrian vaccination expert Florian Krammer (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York ) a few days ago.
How Omikron could influence the fourth wave in Germany cannot yet be reliably estimated, according to Ciesek from the Frankfurt University Hospital. “We currently have a pronounced delta wave, which in itself is a big problem, which actually requires our full attention.” Omikron definitely leads to further stress in the laboratories.