THE UNITED KINGDOM CORONAVIRUS VARIANT RAPIDLY SPREADING IN GERMANY

 

New coronavirus variant

The UK variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Germany, where it now accounts for more than one in five cases, Health Minister Jens Spahn said, reports the online media outlet ‘TheLocal.de.’

According to new data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the proportion of the British coronavirus variant (B.1.1.7) in positive test samples examined in Germany rose from just under six percent to more than 22 percent in two weeks.

The RKI and laboratories have analyzed more than 23,000 positive PCR tests and sequenced the samples in recent weeks in a bid to find out how Covid variants are spreading.

During a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday, Spahn warned that B.1.1.7, which is more contagious than earlier strains of the virus, will become the dominant variant in Germany.

"The mutation that was first discovered in the UK is particularly worrying... We have to expect that it will now become the dominant variant here," said Spahn. He added that the proportion of cases with the variant is "doubling every week."

The rise comes despite Germany partially closing its borders in an attempt to stem the spread of the new variants.

Europe's biggest economy has been filtering crossings from Austria's Tyrol region and the Czech Republic since Sunday, prompting criticism from the EU.

The South African variant is being detected much less frequently in positive test samples, with a share of around 1.5 percent.

The health minister said it was "encouraging" that the infection figures were falling in Germany despite the spread of the variant. This shows that Covid-19 restrictions are working, Spahn stressed.

"We are in one of the most difficult phases of this pandemic for Germany and Europe," he added. 

On Wednesday Germany logged 7,556 new cases within 24 hours and 560 deaths. The number of cases per 100,000 residents in seven days stood at 57.

More testing Germany for the pandemic fight

Spahn announced on Tuesday that free rapid antigen Covid-19 tests will be offered to everyone starting in March.

He said these were an "important tool" in the fight against the pandemic, but no substitute for distance and hygiene rules.

So far, antigen tests have been used mainly for the prevention of outbreaks in care home facilities, but recently the strategy has been extended to schools and daycare centers.

It is hoped the availability of more rapid tests in pharmacies and doctors' surgeries, along with self-administered tests, can help Germany return to some kind of normal life as it emerges from months of shutdown.

The Health Minister said investment in testing and vaccinations made sense compared to the cost of lockdowns. The testing measures are to be paid for by the federal government.

When asked about the number of tests, Spahn explained that rapid tests were sufficiently available, but that he could not guarantee they would always be available at any place and time.

Meanwhile, the first 'at-home test kits' should be available at the beginning of March after approval by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, Spahn said.

However, Spahn said PCR tests, which involve samples being sent to a lab, "remain the gold standard."

He urged everyone who has Covid-19 symptoms, such as cough or fever, to make an appointment with their doctor to ask for a PCR test.

According to the recommendation of the Robert Koch Institute, a positive result on a rapid antigen test should be confirmed by a PCR test, as antigen tests are not considered as reliable as PCR.

THE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

COVID-19has decimated the world

Like Belgium, Italy, and Spain, the deadly coronavirus impact has changed lives, shut down businesses, and laid off many workers, monopolizing political debate in the United Kingdom from the time the disease emerged.

The coronavirus, which doesn’t discriminate, has also affected the country’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who, according to the British media, is in intensive care, but his health remains stable.

The Prime Minister contracted the disease on the evening of April 5, forcing him to be hospitalized, on which the Queen, Elizabeth II, also spoke to the nation. 

To observe how the British opinion has evolved on the emergency and who is managing it, two opinion polls were compared to deal with this issue in depth.

The first survey was conducted in mid-March, between the 12th and 13th, when the number of infected people reached 800, with 10 deaths. 

Just on the evening of March 12, Boris Johnson gives an intervention in which he says that many will lose their loved ones and that no restrictive measures like the Italian ones are foreseen.

The second survey was carried out at the end of the month, between 26 and 27 March, which was a few days after implementing the lockdown. 

On the morning of March 27, in addition, the prime minister announced that he was positive for coronavirus, while the infections approached the 15,000 threshold, with over 750 deaths.

In late March, 88% of Britons said they were worried about the epidemic, 15 points higher than two weeks earlier. The elders appear a little more concerned than the younger ones.

However, the voters of the major opposition parties are more concerned than the conservative voters, but there are no particularly clear differences.

Like other countries, to avoid the spread of the virus, London experienced lockdown, making the streets virtually empty and unnaturally silent. 

However, according to 'WorldOMeter,' an international team of developers and researchers providing world statistics of the pandemics, the United Kingdom has so far registered 73,758 cases and 8,958 deaths, and 344 patients have recovered.


Update: April 12, 2020

The UK has recorded 917 new coronavirus deaths, taking the total number of people who have died in hospital with the virus to 9,875.

For the second day in a row, more than 900 deaths were recorded in hospitals. The latest figures come as the prime minister has told friends he owes his life to the NHS staff who treated him in hospital for COVID-19.

Boris Johnson is expected to spend the coming weeks resting and recovering and will not rush his return to work.