The omicron wave hit Germany and many other countries. In Germany, significantly more than half of all infections point to the variant.
- omicron: The corona mutation is causing increasing numbers worldwide. In Germany, too, it accounts for the vast majority of infections (see update from January 13, 9:20 p.m.).
- The US expert Anthony Fauci is certain: the new variant will affect almost everyone (see original notification).
- This News ticker for the Omikron variant is continuously updated.
Update from January 13, 9:20 p.m.: The omicron mutation is also spreading rapidly in Germany. The weekly report of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) shows that according to reporting data from the federal states in the first calendar week of the year, 73 percent of the corona evidence examined for variants were assigned to the variant first discovered in South Africa. According to this data source, Omikron is the predominant corona variant in Germany. The week before, the proportion was 51 percent. This data takes into account evidence from genetic analysis as well as suspected cases from so-called variant-specific PCR tests.
Findings from another source, a random sample, are more meaningful but less up-to-date than the reported data: Only the results of complete genetic material analyzes of randomly selected samples are included here. According to the RKI report, the Omicron share in the last week of 2021 was around 40 percent. This corresponds to about a doubling compared to the week before.
Lauterbach predicts further mutations and advocates compulsory vaccination
Update from January 13th, 1.30 p.m .: Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has urgently called for further vaccinations in view of the rapidly increasing corona infections. For anyone who wants a booster vaccination, the vaccine is available, said the SPD politician in the Bundestag on Thursday. “Through this campaign, the wall of the omicron wave can be made a steep hill or at least limit the height of the wall.”
Lauterbach again promoted the introduction of a general compulsory corona vaccination. This is “the safest and fastest way out of the pandemic.” In the long term, this is only possible “if the vast majority of the population is vaccinated so that severe courses can no longer be expected, even with new variants of the coronavirus.” Because it has to Dangerous and particularly contagious variants can also be expected in the future. Therefore, a compulsory vaccination should be introduced – thoroughly, but timed so that a fourth pandemic year does not have to be opened as it is now.
Update from January 12th, 10 p.m .: How reliably do rapid antigen tests show an infection with the Omicron variant? The first results from the laboratory showed “that many tests do not even recognize highly positive samples, although the patients from whom the samples came were very likely already contagious,” says the virologist Isabella Eckerle in an interview with the Wirtschaftswoche. The scientist, who conducts research in Geneva, warns: “Anyone who sits down in a restaurant now risks an omicron infection despite all the hygiene measures.”
Omicron Wave: Modelers – 90 percent of all infections caused by coronavirus variants
Update from January 12th, 8 p.m .: How much has the Omikron variant hit in Germany? According to the pharmacy professor and modeler Thorsten Lehr, Omikron is already likely to account for around 90 percent of all new corona infections in Germany.
The north is already severely affected, in the next two weeks the virus variant will also spread further in the west and south, explained the professor of clinical pharmacy at Saarland University in an interview with the Deutschlandfunk (Dlf). On the other hand, he is worried about the East, “because we still have poor vaccination rates here,” said Lehr and predicted: “Omikron is now really getting started.”
Omikron Wave: Report from Norway – Risk of hospitalization much lower than Delta
Update from January 12th, 6 p.m .: In the event of infection with the Omikron variant of the coronavirus *, according to calculations by the Norwegian health authorities, the risk of hospitalization is 69 percent lower than with infection with the Delta variant. The Norwegian health institute FHI explained this on Wednesday in its weekly report on the corona pandemic. The FHI report explicitly stated: “The omicron variant has a significantly lower risk than the delta variant of developing a severe form of the disease in infected individuals – at least if they are vaccinated.”
According to the FHI, the Omikron variant was detected in 32 percent of corona patients who were hospitalized in Norway in the first week of 2022. Four weeks earlier, the proportion was 1.7 percent. In the same period, however, the variant had become widespread in infections and recently accounted for around 90 percent of new infections.
Omikron wave: Virologist – booster vaccination protects “relatively well against infection with Omikron”
Update from January 12th, 4 p.m .: One of the current questions in the coronavirus pandemic is whether the omicron variant bypasses vaccinations.
“Yes, it does to a certain percentage. Not 100 percent – especially with a fresh booster vaccination, you are still relatively well protected against infection with Omikron. Not quite as good as against a delta infection, but also significantly better than if the booster was six months ago,” explains virologist Martin Stürmer in an interview tagesschau24.de: “In this respect, the booster vaccination is not in vain, but it is the best protection against an infection with omicron. Accordingly, I can only advise you to take advantage of the offers. “
Update from January 12th, 2 p.m .: School is starting again in Germany amid rising corona numbers. Medical professionals speak out about the danger to children and what omicron symptoms to watch out for.
Omicron wave changes situation in the USA significantly – expert expresses drastic fears
Original notification dated January 12, 2022: Washington – The Corona * pandemic has had the world and Germany firmly under control for two years. On Wednesday, January 12, the Robert Koch Institute confirmed a new, sad infection record in Germany. Above all, the new Corona variant Omikron is currently causing increasing numbers of infections. The US expert Anthony Fauci is certain: the particularly contagious mutation will affect almost everyone.
Omicron wave sweeps the world: will the corona mutation actually affect almost everyone?
“With the extraordinary and unprecedented effectiveness of the transfer, Omikron will ultimately find almost everyone,” said the immunologist and presidential advisor on Tuesday, January 11th. The Corona * mutation could also affect vaccinated people. But most of them wouldn’t have a hard time.
Serious infections or even hospital treatment are less likely with Omikron. Fauci explained this in an interview with the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The worst will hit those who are still not vaccinated, the expert said. An omicron wave is also currently raging in the USA. 208 million people there are fully vaccinated, i.e. almost 63 percent of the population. 76 million people have received a booster vaccination so far.
Omicron mutation sends numbers skyrocketing: USA hard hit
Fauci’s testimony came just hours after a similar-sounding warning from the acting chief of the US FDA, Janet Woodcock. “It is difficult to process what is actually happening at the moment, namely that most people will get Covid,” she told Omikron at a hearing in the US Senate. “We need to make sure that the hospitals are still working, that transportation and other essential services are not interrupted while this is happening,” said Woodcock.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at the hearing that Omicron is “pushing case counts here in the United States and around the world to unprecedented levels.” According to CDC data, there have been around 750,000 confirmed new infections per day in the United States on average over the past seven days.*Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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