BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The even more easily transmitted omicron subtype BA.2 is rapidly advancing in Germany and is now responsible for a large number of infections. By the end of the first week of March, the proportion of BA.2 in a sample had risen to around 62 percent, according to the Corona weekly report by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Thursday evening. In the week before, the value was still around 50 percent.
The experts write that the easier transferability of BA.2, the withdrawal of contact-reducing measures and a changed behavior of the population are presumably the reason why the number of transmitted infections has increased significantly again in the last week. The nationwide seven-day incidence increased by 22 percent in the week to March 13 compared to the previous week, and in all federal states except for Berlin, the number of cases increased, in some cases significantly.
“There is still a very high infection pressure in the population,” says the RKI report. “The further course of the pandemic depends on whether larger parts of the population continue to behave responsibly or to what extent possible contacts relevant to infection increase.”
With the spread of the corona virus in Germany, there was a new high of 294,931 reported new infections within 24 hours on Thursday. The seven-day incidence had risen to a record of 1,651.4 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days, 278 people had died with Corona within one day./jjk/DP/stw