The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) provides new figures on the prevalence of Omikron in Germany. An expert expects very high incidences. The news ticker.
- The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) * is monitoring the spread of the Corona * variant * in this country. (see first report)
- The Omikron wave hits Germany with a delay: Experts expect the high in February. (see update from January 11th, 10 a.m.)
- According to the WHO, half of all people in Europe could become infected with Omikron by March. (see update from January 11th, 1:35 p.m.)
- This news ticker for Omikron in Germany * and worldwide is continuously updated.
Update from January 11th, 1:35 p.m .: Omikron is currently expanding rapidly in Europe. In some countries, the new Corona variant is already the dominant one. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than half of the people in Greater Europe could be infected with it by March. The Director of WHO Europe, Hans Kluge, said on Tuesday at an online press conference.
Omikron attacks human cells faster because of its mutations. This also applies to those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered. “At this rate, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) predicts that more than 50 percent of the region’s population will be infected with Omikron in the next six to eight weeks,” said Kluge, referring to the university’s research institute of Washington in Seattle.
According to Kluge, the “unprecedented” spread of the coronavirus is already noticeable in an increase in Covid 19 patients in hospitals, but the death rate is stable. The new wave of infections is putting “the health systems and the service sector in many countries where Omikron has spread very quickly under pressure,” said the WHO representative. “Many other” countries are threatened by this. Kluge emphasized that corona vaccinations are still of great importance. The approved vaccines therefore “continue to offer good protection against serious illness and death, even with Omikron”.
Omicron studies from South Africa: higher percentage of infected people without symptoms
Update from January 11, 11:25 a.m .: With the omicron variant, the proportion of people without symptoms among those infected is much higher than with previous variants. This is shown by the preliminary results of two South African studies, such as, among others ntv reported.
Significantly more people who tested positive had no symptoms compared to previous studies. That could explain why Omikron is spreading so quickly around the world, explain the scientists from the Ubuntu and Sisonke studies.
Omikron wall hits Germany with a delay
Update from January 11th, 10 a.m .: The Corona numbers are also increasing significantly in Germany thanks to Omikron. But compared to the already high Omicron walls of neighboring countries, the wave of infections builds up later. Why is that? Protective measures probably play the greatest role, as immunologist Carsten Watzl of the German Press Agency (dpa) said. The delta wave had just broken, but the tightened measures that led to it were still valid and still in effect when Omikron arrived in November.
In addition, the population in this country has apparently quickly adapted their behavior to Omikron and behaved more cautiously – and thus contributed to the previous lack of the wall, explained Christine Falk from the Hannover Medical School. “The actions of each individual flow into the overall situation,” emphasized the President of the German Society for Immunology (DGfI). Falk hopes that people will continue to act with great caution and that the wall can at least be reduced to a wave. “We have Omikron better under control than others, it is feasible that the numbers do not slip away from us as much as other countries.” Wearing an FFP2 mask in public spaces is one of the most effective measures for this.
Omikron: Expert expects incidences “well over 1000”
Watzl, General Secretary of the German Society for Immunology, is convinced: “We will get incidences well over 1000 – the national average, regionally well above.” Germany could therefore reach its highest level in February. That is still far too far from spring for the seasonal decline to have a mitigating effect.
“The only advantage of the delayed omicron wave for us is that we have more time for the vaccinations,” explained Watzl. Because even if the vaccination quota is not decisive for the spread – it is for the stress in the clinics. “If Omikron resulted in 70 percent fewer hospital admissions in our country compared to Delta, we would have the same stress again at an incidence of 1500 like the fourth wave. “
Omikron: Sweden tightened corona measures
Update from January 10, 6:19 p.m .: Omikron cases are also increasing in Sweden *. For this reason, the country is now tightening the corona measures. The government announced on Monday that bars and restaurants will have to close at 11 p.m. from next Wednesday. Events in closed rooms are capped at 500 participants, from 50 participants a vaccination certificate is required. This applies to public events. A maximum of 20 people are allowed to meet at private parties or gatherings. “We are currently in a situation with record levels of transmissions,” said Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson as the reason for the new measures.
Just like in other countries – such as Israel – Sweden has repeatedly recorded new highs in the number of corona cases in the past few days. Experts attribute this to the Omikron variant. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been neither school closings nor lockdowns in Sweden, there was talk of the Swedish “Sonderweg”. The statistics show that the 15,300 corona deaths to date based on the population of 10.3 million people in Sweden correspond to the European average. Compared to neighboring countries such as Norway *, Finland * and Denmark *, which were more restrictive during the corona pandemic, the death rate in Sweden is significantly higher.
Corona case numbers in Israel reach new highs
Update from January 10, 4:20 p.m .: In Israel, the Corona infection numbers from Omikron climb to new highs every day. The Ministry of Health reported 21,501 new cases on Monday for the previous day. Last autumn, during the fourth corona wave, the peak was more than 11,000 cases per day.
However, the actual number of infections is currently likely to be significantly higher. Because Israel relaxed the test requirement last week: Only risk groups and people over 60 years of age have to do a PCR test after coming into contact with a person infected with corona. A rapid antigen test is sufficient for everyone else. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Sunday that two to four million Israelis would become infected with the corona virus in this wave of infections. According to the ministry, only around 61 percent of the 9.4 million Israelis are fully vaccinated. Around 320,000 people have already received the fourth corona vaccination.
Omikron: First outbreak in China – Beijing sets up checkpoints
Update from January 10th, 3:30 p.m .: More infections have been discovered since the first local Omikron outbreak in China. The number of cases in Beijing’s neighboring city of Tianjin rose from 20 to 40, while two infections were also discovered in central China, the state media reported on Monday.
The discovery of local Omicron infections almost four weeks before the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing and before the travel season for the Chinese New Year celebrations at the end of January alarmed the authorities. Health authorities expected further infections. The highly contagious variant is likely to put China’s strict zero-Covid strategy to the test with mass tests, curfews, quarantine and isolation. In the state media, epidemiologists speak of the “first real battle” against Omikron in China.
In the affected Tianjin, all 15 million residents have been tested since Sunday. Residents were urged not to leave the city without good reason. They also have to prove a negative PCR test within 48 hours. The estimated 100,000 commuters who work in Beijing, 100 kilometers away, have been asked to work from home. The capital set up checkpoints to control access.
Omikron: Share in Germany is growing rapidly
First report from January 10th: Berlin – Within one day, the detected Omikron cases in Germany rose by six percent (+ 5162). The Robert Koch Institute assigns a total of 89,464 infections to the new Corona variant in its current overview. The authority has kept the register since calendar week 46.
For the first calendar week of the new year, the RKI expects a “high” number of late registrations. So far, most cases have occurred among 15 to 34-year-olds with 41,320, followed by 35 to 59-year-olds with 29,645. In the 5 to 14 year olds there were 8,266 cases and 6,860 in the 60 to 79 age group.
Omikron in the individual federal states: the top 3
The RKI also breaks down the Omikron distribution regionally. So far, most infections have been recorded in North Rhine-Westphalia (1949), Bavaria (1582) and Baden-Württemberg (1166). But these are only the confirmed cases. If you add the suspected cases, the numbers are significantly higher in the three federal states: 26,224, 20,390 and 12,239 respectively. You will find the tables behind this link.
The RKI regards a case as confirmed if the omicron is recognized by whole genome sequencing or a variant-specific PCR test.
Omikron: Lauterbach indicates a “special” problem
Since the discovery of the highly contagious Omicron variant in November, many countries have reported record numbers of infections. However, this has not yet led to a corresponding increase in deaths. This seems to confirm the findings from studies, according to which Omikron is more contagious than the previous variants, but the course of the disease is less severe.
The countries with the world’s highest infection rates per 100,000 inhabitants are all in Europe: at the top Cyprus with a seven-day incidence of 3468, followed by Ireland (2840), Greece (2415), Montenegro (2371), Denmark (2362 ) and France (2137).
In Great Britain, Omikron is already the predominant variant. In the country, there has already been an overload of the clinics – because many clinic staff were absent due to a corona infection and subsequent isolation.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach retweeted a chart on Monday with the latest figures from Great Britain and warned against transferring the data on the “immunity wall” to Germany: “We have a special problem with older people who have not been vaccinated.” On the other hand, there are the Few of those over 65 who have not yet been vaccinated. * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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