British coronavirus variant could be responsible for rising cases in Germany

An increasing spread of the COVID-19 that was first detected in Britain might be responsible for rising infection numbers seen in Germany recently, a senior health official said on Friday.

More coronavirus tests were not responsible for the increase in cases, Lothar Wieler, chief of the Robert Koch Institute told a news conference. “There are indications that the rise relates to the B117 variant.”

That variant is already dominant in parts of Germany, Health Minister Jens Spahn added at the joint news conference.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 12,834 to 2,545,781, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday. The reported death toll rose by 252 to 73,062, the tally showed.

Germany is at the start of a third wave of the coronavirus, the head of its public health agency said, warning that case numbers had been too high for a while and needed to be lowered.

Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, told a Friday news conference that vaccination would help bring the virus under control, but said in the meantime people should socially distance.

“The virus is not going to disappear, but once we have a base level of immunity in the population we can control it,” he said, adding that vaccination had already led to a fall in the death rate from the virus.

Health Minister Jens Spahn added that Germany had to brace for a few hard weeks with the onset of the third wave. 

Main Photo: A medical officer holds a coronavirus (COVID-19) rapid test in Berlin, Germany. EPA-EFE/FILIP SINGER