Coronavirus variant spotted in UK to be predominant in Germany soon, warns RKI

Source: Xinhua| 2021-03-06 00:03:17|Editor: huaxia

Pedestrians are seen in Berlin, Germany, March 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

Only four weeks ago, the variant first detected in Britain accounted for around 6 percent of all samples tested in Germany. Last week, the figure skyrocketed to more than 40 percent, according to the RKI.

BERLIN, March 5 (Xinhua) -- After weeks of declining infection numbers, Germany still faces "signals of a trend reversal" in the coronavirus pandemic and the more contagious variant B.1.1.7 would become predominant soon, warned Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), on Friday.

Only four weeks ago, the variant first detected in Britain accounted for around 6 percent of all samples tested in Germany. Last week, the figure skyrocketed to more than 40 percent, according to the RKI, the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.

"It is foreseeable that B.1.1.7 will soon be the predominant variant in Germany," said Wieler. "Then it will be even more difficult to keep the virus under control" as the variant was "even more contagious and even more dangerous in all age groups."

A hairdresser works at a hair salon in Berlin, capital of Germany, March 1, 2021. Hair salons in Germany have reopened on Monday. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)

Despite the ongoing lockdown, Germany on Friday registered 10,580 new COVID-19 infections and 264 deaths within one day, the latest RKI tally showed. The national incidence rate within seven days stood at 65.4 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Wieler urged German citizens to continue to comply with the COVID-19 measures and to take up vaccination offers. "The vaccines and everyone who gets vaccinated are showing us the way out of this pandemic."

More than two months after the start of the coronavirus vaccination program in Germany, over 2.3 million people have received the second dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of Thursday, bringing the country's vaccination rate to 2.8 percent, according to the RKI.

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