The coronavirus variant Delta discovered in India has significantly increased its share of new Sars-CoV-2 infections in Germany within a week. At 6.2 percent in calendar week 22 (May 31 to June 6), it remains relatively rare, according to the latest report from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on the mutants from Wednesday evening classified as worrying. In the previous week (week 21), the proportion of the delta variant in the samples examined was still 3.7 percent. While the mutation has been spreading in Great Britain for some time, its share in Germany has recently been stable.
With a share of a good 86 percent of the samples examined, the variant alpha (B.1.1.7, discovered in Great Britain) continued to cause the majority of infections nationwide in the first week of June.
However, their share is slowly falling.
The other worrisome variants beta and gamma still play a subordinate role.
A corona variant that has so far mainly occurred in Latin America is now under special observation by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Due to its mutations, the virus version with the name Lambda could possibly be more contagious or be less well fought by the human immune system, the Geneva UN agency reported on Wednesday night.
However, reliable studies and reliable findings are not yet available.
The variant was first identified in Peru in August 2020.
Since April, 81 percent of all corona cases analyzed in the country have been assigned to lambda.
In Argentina and Chile it was around a third in the past few months.
Corona variants are divided into two categories by the WHO: Variants under observation ("variants of interest") that lead to increased cases or occur in several countries.
That includes lambda.
One level higher are the "variants of concern".
They have been shown to be more contagious, more difficult to control or lead to more serious illnesses.
This also includes the delta variant.