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Covid-19 variant from India detected ‘only sporadically’ in Germany, says RKI

Health experts say the Covid-19 variant that originated in India does not appear to have spread widely in Germany so far.

Published: 29 April 2021 10:34 CEST
Updated: 29 April 2021 14:43 CEST
Covid-19 variant from India detected 'only sporadically' in Germany, says RKI
A negative coronavirus rapid test in Dresden, Saxony. Photo: DPA

Acording to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), evidence of the Indian coronavirus variant B.1.617 in Germany remains relatively low.

So far, it has been discovered “only sporadically”, 22 times in a week in examined samples, according to an RKI report published on Wednesday evening. In the previous week, the institute said they had found it 21 times.

“We have isolated cases in Germany, we will release a new report tomorrow,” Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute infectious disease agency, told reporters when asked about the B.1.617 variant.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday that the variant had been detected in “at least 17 countries”.

German media said Cologne reported two cases with the variant. According to broadcaster WDR both of those affected had recently returned from India.

The variant was also discovered in two returning travellers in Baden-Württemberg.

India is experiencing a dramatic surge in Covid cases, with hundreds of thousands of infections being reported daily among its population of 1.38 billion people. Several countries, including Germany, are providing medical supplies and support.

Germany banned travel from India earlier this week, allowing only citizens and residents to enter.

READ ALSO: Germany restricts travel from ‘high risk’ India

‘No weakening’ of British variant

The RKI report states that the dominance of the particularly contagious variant B.1.1.7, which originated in the UK and has been fuelling the third wave Germany, remains the dominant strain in the Bundesrepublik.

The RKI said there is “no weakening” of the prevalence of this variant in Germany.

In the two other variants from South Africa (B.1.351) and Brazil (P.1), which are also classified as worrying, the proportions remain consistently low in Germany, at one percent and less, data shows.

In Germany, however, only a fraction of the samples are examined for variants using so-called whole genome sequencing.

The Indian variant is under observation by the WHO.

Experts say it is too early to say whether the Indian variant, B.1.617, is responsible for the rapid increase in infections there.

The RKI says there is currently still a lack of knowledge on how dangerous the variant is.

Experts are particularly concerned with the question of whether variants cause increased transmission from one person to another, and if vaccines are effective against them. 

What are the latest numbers in Germany?

On Thursday the RKI logged 24,736 cases within the last 24 hours and 264 deaths. On Thursday a week ago, Germany recorded 29,518 new infections and 259 new deaths within a day.

The number of cases per 100,000 people in seven days fell to 154.9 on Thursday, which could be the sign of a downward trend. The day before, the RKI said the 7-day incidence was 160.6; a week ago it was 161.1.

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COVID-19

Is the pandemic over in Germany?

As much of Germany lifts - or prepares to lift - the last remaining Covid-19 measures, intensive care units say Covid-19 admissions are no longer straining the system.

Published: 24 January 2023 09:00 CET
Is the pandemic over in Germany?

Despite a difficult winter of respiratory illnesses, intensive care units in Germany say Covid-19 admissions have almost halved. The number of cases having to be treated in the ICU has gone down to 800 from 1,500 at the beginning of this month.

“Corona is no longer a problem in intensive care units,” Gernot Marx, Vice President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, told the German Editorial Network. “A the moment, we don’t have to think every day about how to still ensure the care of patients, but how to actually run a service that can help.”

Marx said the drop has allowed them to catch up on many postponed surgeries.

The number of sick employees in hospitals is also falling, helping to relieve the pressure on personnel.

The easing pressure on hospitals correlates with the assessment of prominent virologist and head of the Virology department at Berlin’s Charite – Christian Drosten – who said in December that the pandemic was close to ending, with the winter wave being an endemic one.

German federal and state governments are now in the midst of lifting the last of the country’s pandemic-related restrictions. Free Covid-19 antigen tests for most people, with exceptions for medical personnel, recently ended.

READ ALSO: Free Covid-19 tests end in Germany

Six federal states – Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hessen, Thuringia, Lower Saxony, and Schleswig-Holstein – have ended mandatory isolation periods for people who test positive for Covid-19.

Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein have ended the requirement to wear FFP2 masks on public transport, while Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia, and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania will follow suit on February 2nd.

At that time, the federal government will also drop its requirement for masks to be worn on long-distance trains. Labour Minister Hubertus Heil says that’s when he also intends to exempt workplaces – apart from medical locations – from a mask requirement.

READ ALSO: Germany to drop mask mandate in trains and buses from February 2nd

Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg will also end the requirement for patients to wear a mask in doctor’s offices. That’s a requirement that, so far, will stay in place everywhere else. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has also said that he thinks this requirement should remain. 

But some public health insurers and general practitioners are calling for a nationwide end to the obligation for wearing masks in doctor’s offices.

“The pandemic situation is over,” National Association of Statutory Health Physicians (KBV) Chair Andreas Gassen told the RND network. “High-risk patients aren’t treated in all practices. It should generally be left up to medical colleagues to decide whether they want to require masks in their practices.”

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