An infectiologist does not believe in a “killer” variant. Biontech and Pfizer are applying for emergency use authorization for their Omicron vaccine in the US. You can find all the news in the Corona ticker on FOCUS online.
Tuesday, August 23, 5:34 a.m .: The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the nationwide seven-day incidence on Tuesday morning as 288.5. This is evident from numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5 a.m. The day before, the value of new corona infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week was 282.2 (previous week: 313.6; previous month: 709.7). However, this information only provides a very incomplete picture of the number of infections. Experts have been assuming for some time that there will be a large number of cases not recorded by the RKI – mainly because by far not all infected people have a PCR test done. Only positive PCR tests count in the statistics. In addition, late registrations or transmission problems can lead to a distortion of individual daily values.
The health authorities in Germany recently reported 60,411 new corona infections (previous week: 63,745) and 146 deaths (previous week: 140) to the RKI within one day. Here, too, comparisons of the data are only possible to a limited extent due to the test behavior, late registrations or transmission problems. In general, the number of registered new infections and deaths varies significantly from weekday to weekday, since many federal states do not transmit them to the RKI, especially at weekends, and report their cases later in the week.
The RKI has counted 31,868,639 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections go undetected.
10:38 p.m .: The German pharmaceutical company Biontech and its US partner Pfizer have applied to the US drug agency FDA for emergency approval for a corona vaccine adapted to the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 currently circulating. The two companies announced on Monday that an application for the European Medicines Agency Ema should also be completed in the coming days.
With the appropriate approvals, delivery could begin as early as September, it said. However, there is still no clinical study on the adapted variant. The companies had previously submitted applications for a vaccine adapted to the BA.1 subtype. In Germany, this variant no longer plays a role.
1:17 p.m .: The Munich infectiologist Dr. Christoph D. Spinner does not expect a “killer variant” of the corona virus, as Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach fears. “The probability that an even more dangerous variant will appear, which can also multiply even better than today’s variants, is relatively low,” said the senior physician at the University Hospital on the Right of the Isar of the Technical University of Munich of the news site ntv.de.
To do this, the virus would have to combine properties that make it more dangerous and transmissible. “This is very unlikely due to the significantly increased immune competence in the general population,” said the corona expert. The virus no longer affects an immune-naïve population. It is therefore more likely that the virus will keep changing a little so that it can also spread in a significantly more immune-competent population. According to Spinner, only one thing is certain: “We will have to live with the corona virus! It will stay with us.”
Lauterbach said at the end of July that it was conceivable that a virus could combine the infection of the BA.5 variant with the severe course of a delta variant and thus create a “killer variant”.
The vaccinations and recoveries have managed to noticeably increase immune competence in the general population, Spinner said. Because the vaccinations continue to protect against severe courses, which have become significantly rarer as a result. This is also noticeable in the clinics. “Significantly fewer people with severe courses have to go to the hospital.” Nevertheless, it is important to continue to protect risk groups in particular: “Unfortunately, with Sars-CoV-2, as with other respiratory diseases, there is no sterile immunity that permanently protects against infection – even if we initially hoped for it.”
9:11 a.m .: According to World Medical Association Chairman Frank Ulrich Montgomery, the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) should also recommend the second corona booster vaccination to those under 60 years of age. It is good that Stiko now recommends the second booster for everyone over 60 years of age. “Much younger people should also have access to the second booster vaccination, for example if they come into contact with many people professionally and therefore have a higher risk of infection,” Montgomery told the editorial network Germany (Monday). “The fact that there is a legal possibility to be vaccinated is not enough for many. The Stiko should take that into account when making their decisions.” In addition, many doctors and hospitals would only vaccinate if the Stiko had made a positive decision.
Since last week, Stiko has also recommended the second booster vaccination for people aged 60 and over. The condition for the refresher from this age is usually that the first booster vaccination or the last corona infection was at least six months ago. The committee had previously only recommended the second booster to people over the age of 70, people in care facilities, people with immunodeficiency and an increased risk of severe Covid 19 courses from the age of five and employees in medical facilities and care facilities.
Monday, August 22, 5:01 a.m .: After a good six weeks of summer vacation, classes start again for around 303,000 schoolchildren on Monday. In the first week after the summer holidays, non-immunized students, teachers and other employees at schools are required to be tested three times. There should then be no more corona restrictions and lessons in all classes should take place without masks in presence.
Compulsory schooling will also apply from the new school year onwards for children and young people from Ukraine who fled from the Russian war of aggression. The Ministry of Education can only determine how many students this affects after school has started. Before the summer holidays, around 4,500 students from Ukraine were registered at Brandenburg schools.
The Brandenburg police announced checks on the school routes at the start of school on Monday. Because a total of 24,000 first graders start their lessons. The police are therefore asking road users to be particularly considerate, because the ABC shooters now have to find their way in traffic on their way to school.
Sunday, August 21, 2022, 11:30 a.m.: For the first time since the beginning of July, the number of seriously ill people being treated with Covid-19 in intensive care units in Germany has fallen below 1,000. This emerges from the daily report of the intensive care register of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI). According to this, there were 988 Covid 19 patients in intensive care units nationwide on Saturday – 54 fewer than the day before. 363 of them, 37 percent, were ventilated invasively – i.e. through a tube into the trachea. Most recently, the number of Covid intensive care patients was below 1,000 on July 2nd.
The nationwide seven-day incidence also fell on Saturday. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the value of new corona infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Saturday morning as 302.9. On Friday it was 312.5 (previous week: 342.2; previous month: 740.1).
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