Covid-19. True pandemic has only just begun, defends German virologist – Observer

German virologist Christian Drosten, a leading scientist and adviser to the German government on Covid-19 issues, warned this Wednesday that the “true pandemic” of the new coronavirus is only just beginning.

“The real pandemic is coming now. Also here [na Alemanha]. How much, we can talk about the lessons of the first wave in Europe“, In which the differences were enormous, Drosten underlined in an interview for the World Health Summit (CMS), which will take place in Berlin from 25 to 27 of this month in a semi-live format due to Covid-19.

The German expert recommended that, given the way in which the first wave was change the approach to fight the pandemic, so that the situation can be faced in the coming months.

“It is very important to inform the population well and widely,” said Drosten, who warned of the dangers of politicians using the pandemic in their political messages.

The costs can be severe if politicians use the pandemic in their political messages. This is very complicated and the virus immediately passes the bill. We can see what is happening in the United States ”, the country with the highest number of cases of Covid-19 (almost 6.9 million) and deaths (200,818), he noted.

In the coming months he recommended, and for cto control the situation, it is necessary to “change things” and it is also important to make “pragmatic decisions”.

The German specialist relativized the speeches about the “German success” in combating the pandemic, maintaining that this is only due to the fact that Germany reacted four weeks earlier than other countries.

“We react with exactly the same means. There is nothing in particular that we have done well. We just did it before. That is why we have been successful, ”he said, denying that the German health authorities functioned better than the French or that German hospitals are better equipped than the Italians.

If we apply this to what is coming in the fall, then we will have to make it clear that we are still doing nothing better than the others, ”he warned.

Drosten gave as an example the case of Argentina, where the pandemic emerged in the winter and, for that reason, it is being “very difficult” to control the spread of Covid-19 despite the restrictive measures.

“In Germany, we should look much more differently and accurately at what is happening abroad. We have to stop discussing subjects like football stadiums, something completely fallacious ”, said

On the other hand, Drosten recalled that a science currently enjoys a “great credibility”, but warned that this could change “at any time”.

“Only in the end will it be known how science did it, because this pandemic, in the first place, is not a scientific phenomenon, but a natural catastrophe”, he observed.

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