A.also in Baden-Wuerttemberg the first cases of the new Coronavirus variant Omikron have now appeared. The health department in the Alb-Donau district reported four people who were verifiably infected with the mutation, the Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday. Three of the infected had returned from a business trip from South Africa, the fourth person came from the family environment of one of the returnees. All four people are fully vaccinated.
A mutation analysis carried out by the State Health Office confirmed the new variant. The infected lived in the Alb-Donau district and in the urban district of Ulm and were in domestic isolation together with their household members.
Also in Saxony there is in all likelihood a case of the new Coronavirus variant Omikron. “It is an urgent suspicion,” said a spokeswoman for the Leipzig University Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. Unlike the city of Leipzig announced on Tuesday morning, the case has not yet been finally confirmed by whole genome sequencing.
The head of the health department, Regine Krause-Döring, had already reported the suspicion the day before. A 39-year-old man is therefore affected who has neither been abroad nor had contact with a person who was abroad.
The man is being housed in a hospital. The city did not disclose any details about his health. The Leipzig health department is now trying to understand the man’s contacts, said the spokesman. However, given the abundance of new infections every day, the authority is already working to the limit. So far, nothing is known about other possible Omikron cases.
Saxony is considered to be nationwide corona hotspot – According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the seven-day incidence on Tuesday was 1268.9. In many places the hospitals and intensive care units are overloaded. For the first time, the Bundeswehr will also fly intensive care patients from Saxony to North Rhine-Westphalia for treatment on Wednesday. According to information from the German Press Agency, the Luftwaffe’s special aircraft will bring the seriously ill from Dresden to Cologne on Wednesday.
15 suspected cases in Bavaria
In Bavaria there are 15 new suspected cases of the Omikron variant. However, these have not yet been confirmed by genome sequencing, announced the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) in Erlangen on Tuesday. If the suspected cases are confirmed, there would be 18 Omikron records in Bavaria.
The 15 people affected were air travelers who arrived in Munich on Sunday from Cape Town in South Africa and tested positive for the Sars-CoV-2 virus. In the case of these travelers, the results of the variant-specific PCR test in connection with the travel history indicated that they may have been infected with the Omicron variant. Whole genome sequencing, which is already being prepared, will provide certainty.
A fourth case in Bavaria was also confirmed on Tuesday. It is one of two people who tested positive who arrived in Munich from Cape Town last Friday.
In Hesse Meanwhile, two more suspected cases have arisen. As the Frankfurt Health Department announced, a total of six people are suspected on the basis of variant-specific PCR testing. Sequencing for confirmation has not yet taken place.
In three cases the people were in South Africa and in one case in Zimbabwe. Two suspected cases are secondary cases of two sick people. They would have been infected in Germany. According to the health department, all those affected are in isolation at home.
Another suspected Omikron case in North Rhine-Westphalia
in the District of Kleve Another suspected case of the coronavirus variant Omikron has been identified. As the district administration announced on Tuesday, the fully immunized but still infected person from Rees flew to Frankfurt am Main from Cape Town in South Africa on November 23. The next day symptoms of the disease appeared. Final studies on the Omikron variant are still pending. A person traveling with them is in quarantine, but has so far not had any symptoms. Six other contact persons were identified, two of which had a positive PCR test. Everyone should be in quarantine.
Cases of the variant have now appeared in a number of countries. In Israel two doctors near the metropolis of Tel Aviv were infected with the Omikron variant. One of the two cardiologists was in from a medical conference London returned and infected his colleague after his return, said a spokesman for the clinic. This means that four Omicron cases have been confirmed in Israel so far, and there are still several suspected cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) classified the corona variant, which was first discovered in southern Africa, on Friday as “worrying”.
Approval of new vaccines could take up to four months
Scientists believe that the Omicron variant is more contagious than the currently prevailing delta variant. In addition, the US corona vaccine manufacturer Moderna warned that the previous vaccinations are less effective against the newly discovered virus variant.
Of the European Medicines Agency EMA No information is yet available on whether new Covid-19 vaccines against the Omikron variant are needed. The EMA is preparing for it, says the head of the authority, Emer Cooke, in the European Parliament. Laboratory tests should provide more clarity in around two weeks. Even if the new omicron variant continues to spread, the existing vaccines will continue to offer protection, says Cooke.
Should adjustments to the vaccine become necessary, these could be approved within three to four months.
Note: The case in Saxony has not yet been confirmed. The city corrected its information on Tuesday evening, we adjusted the article.