New Corona mutant
Drosten warns those who have not been vaccinated against serious disease progression due to the Omikron variant
Christian Drosten suspects that we will have a problem with the Omikron variants from January
© Michael Kappeler / DPA
Virologist Christian Drosten believes that there will be problems with the Omikron variant in Germany until summer. At the same time, he warned of euphoria in view of the presumably imminent reports from South Africa about a mild course of the disease.
The chief virologist at the Berlin Charité, Christian Drosten, expects problems with the corona virus in Germany by next summer due to the newly appeared Omikron variant. “The delta virus is our problem until January, the omicron virus is our problem until summer,” said Drosten on Tuesday in the NDR program “The Coronavirus Update”.
The delta variant of the corona virus currently dominates in Germany. The recently discovered Omikron variant is spreading worldwide. Drosten said that Omikron will probably become a problem in Germany from January. In any case, it cannot be said at the moment that the coronavirus issue will be over by Easter.
Drosten skeptical about the mild course of the disease at Omikron
Drosten was particularly concerned about the high rate of spread of Omikron. There is a doubling of cases in South Africa or England about every three to four days. If this is confirmed for Germany, “then this is a development that is faster than any political decision-making option. Then we would soon have a serious problem,” said Drosten.
In contrast to South Africa or England, however, the current political measures such as the 2G regulations are currently pulling the “handbrake” on somewhat, which may slow down the spread.
The virologist also warned of euphoria in view of the presumably upcoming reports from South Africa about a mild course of the disease. In South Africa, it is re-infection of people who have had the corona virus once or even twice. That is why the situation cannot be compared with Germany and that is why he issued a warning for the unvaccinated. “It could be that the disease severity is not only not reduced. It could even be that it is made more difficult, the disease severity.”
Drosten advises vaccination
Drosten justified this assumption with the significantly stronger virus replication at Omikron. “A lot of virus, a lot of disease,” said the virologist. He advised vaccination against the coronavirus and especially the so-called booster vaccination. He assumes that a “boosted vaccine immunity” against Omikron also protects better than a survived infection. The scientist admitted that no reliable data was yet available. Overall, many assumptions are currently still assumptions due to the lack of reliable studies.
As Drosten said, the scientific results currently available from South Africa point to a lower disease severity. However, this can be explained by the fact that those infected with Omikron have already had corona and therefore have immunity. In addition, it also affects younger people to a much greater extent, who are protected from serious disease by their age.
Drosten called the hospital admissions of children reported from South Africa worrying. One in five hospital admissions was reported to involve children under the age of 10.