The four other suspected cases with the new Omikron coronavirus variant announced by the Frankfurt virologist Sandra Ciesek have not yet been confirmed.

As Ciesek informed the FAZ, the so-called sequencing is still ongoing.

The result will be available next Wednesday, she added.

Thorsten Winter

Business editor and internet coordinator in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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As the virologist further explained, the clinical course of an infection with the new virus variant is still unclear.

She expects further suspected cases due to the numerous return travelers from Namibia and South Africa, for example.

Returnees tested immediately

Ciesek had tweeted the news of the four other cases on Sunday evening.

As in the case of an infected person from the Rhine-Main area, these people are also returnees from Africa.

Several planes with hundreds of passengers from southern Africa land at Frankfurt Airport every day.

According to Health Minister Kai Klose (The Greens), the returnees will be tested immediately.

According to Ciesek, the antigen tests available also work with Omikron.

Lufthansa continues to fly to bring vacationers and other travelers back to Germany, as the group announced.

According to CEO Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa expects restrictions for unvaccinated people because of Omikron.

“We see this trend worldwide.

Global freedom will be preserved for those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered, ”Spohr told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung at the weekend.

"Pharmacies should be allowed to vaccinate"

Meanwhile, the Hessian Pharmacists Association is demanding better guidelines from politics with a view to vaccination: Pharmacies should be allowed to offer their patients corona vaccinations, says Holger Seyfarth, Chairman of the Hessian Pharmacists Association.

"In particular, older patients who have been completely vaccinated since spring have so few antibodies that they suffer more vaccination breakthroughs," the pharmacist is quoted as saying.

He reports on numerous patients who urgently need a booster vaccination, but only receive late appointments in their doctor's offices.

Seyfarth therefore expects the legislature to now allow booster vaccinations in pharmacies.