As of: 06/30/2022 9:59 p.m
Two thirds of corona infections can now be traced back to the omicron subvariant BA.5. According to the RKI, it is also responsible for the recent increase in incidence and hospital admissions. The WHO warns of a summer wave.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the distribution of the omicron subvariant BA.5, which has been dominant in Germany for some time, has increased again. According to new findings – a sample from the week before last – their share was almost 66 percent, like the RKI in the current weekly report identifies. In the previous week, BA.5’s share was around 52 percent.
As the RKI experts write in the report, the BA.4 variant has recently continued to rise, but less strongly than in the previous weeks. It was therefore around seven percent. In Germany, however, the genome is only completely examined in a small proportion of positive samples.
Increasing incidence, more hospital admissions
According to the RKI, there has also recently been a clear increase in the nationwide seven-day incidence: the value increased by 38 percent. According to the report, there was also a significant increase in the number of outbreaks in old people’s and nursing homes and the number of people treated with Covid-19 in intensive care units.
Against the background of increasing incidences due to the more widespread sublines BA.4 and BA.5, the RKI warns that the measures to prevent infection should continue to be observed. The experts tweeted that, especially for people with booster vaccinations, “very good vaccination protection against a serious illness can continue to be assumed”.
Lauterbach: Corona tests are now more meaningful
After the end of the free corona citizen tests, the Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach assumes that the new regulation will lead to the tests being more meaningful. “If everyone can just get tested as often as they want without there being a reason for it, then too many tests are negative or if they are positive, then often falsely positive,” said the SPD politician on RTL. “We’ve narrowed that down so the tests are more meaningful.”
Lauterbach said it would also take more consistent action against fraud. He also defended the citizens’ participation in the costs: “If I can protect many people in a larger group from infection for three euros, then that’s money well invested.”
WHO Europe chief warns of corona wave in summer
The World Health Organization (WHO) meanwhile expects a new corona wave in Europe this summer. The coronavirus is expected to spread rapidly as countries across the region have lifted their previous protective measures, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge told AFP. “The virus will not go away just because countries stop monitoring it.”
According to the WHO, the number of cases of infection on the European continent has more than tripled within a few weeks due to the spread of the highly contagious omicron subvariant BA.5. While around 150,000 cases of infection per day were registered in the 53 countries that belong to the Europe region of the WHO at the end of May, the number of daily infections is now approaching the 500,000 mark.
High infection rates also from Germany
The highest infection rates were reported from Austria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal. He hopes that the vaccinations and numerous infections will mean that the consequences of an infection will usually be less serious than at the beginning of the pandemic, said Kluge.
But there are still deaths and serious illnesses to be lamented, according to Kluge. “That’s why we stick to our recommendations” for protection against the virus. People should continue to isolate themselves if they have respiratory symptoms, keep their vaccinations up to date and wear face masks in crowded places.
It is also important to continue tracking the virus, otherwise new transmission patterns and mutations would go undetected for too long, said Kluge. He also called on countries to continue increasing their vaccination rates.