BERLIN (AP) – A more contagious variant of the coronavirus that was first detected in Britain now accounts for about 6% of recorded cases in Germany, authorities said Friday.
The director of Germany’s disease control agency said labs last week checked the virus genome in more than 30,000 COVID-19 positive samples to assess the spread of the variant, known to scientists as B. 1.1.7. Additionally, the spread of two others that were first detected in South Africa and Brazil was evaluated.
“All three variants, particularly B.1.1.7., Have arrived in Germany,” said Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute. “They are not dominant yet, but we have to believe that their percentage will increase, as has been reported in other European nations in recent weeks,” Koch added to reporters in Berlin.
On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the prevalence of the new variants of the virus will play a role in discussions between the federal government and state authorities next week around whether they will extend current lockdown restrictions until after mid-mid-September. February.
Wieler reported that the variant found in Great Britain and that has been detected in 13 of the 16 states of Germany “is more contagious than the existing one and there are indications that it can also cause more serious symptoms.”
He warned that rigorous hygiene measures would need to accompany decisions to reopen schools and kindergartens, as some leading politicians have demanded.
A massive analysis of positive tests recorded in France on January 27 found that 14% would be of the variant identified in Britain, according to data released Thursday by the French public health agency. That amount represented an increase from the 3% found in a similar analysis conducted a month ago.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that despite concerns about the new variants, there were good signs that confinement restrictions were slowing the spread of the virus in the nation.
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