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A Corona variant known from India is causing a stir.
The World Health Organization (WHO), the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and other experts are currently cautious about variant B.1.617, but SPD health specialist Karl Lauterbach suspects danger.
In India, the number of cases has exploded, with around 270,000 new infections recently registered per day.
Variant B.1.617 is currently under observation, for a classification as “worrying” there is so far “the corresponding evidence”, said an RKI spokeswoman on dpa request.
"In Germany, a total of eight sequences of line B.1.617 from March have been identified."
The variant carries two mutations on a surface protein that are known from other lines under observation, explained the RKI further.
Both would be "associated with a reduced neutralisability by antibodies or T cells, the extent of which is not clear".
That means: Vaccinated and convalescent people could possibly be less well protected against infection with this variant.
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This property is also feared in the variants discovered in South Africa (B.1.351) and Brazil (P.1).
The WHO has classified both as worrying - as a "variant of concern".
This also applies to the very contagious mutant B.1.1.7, discovered in Great Britain at the end of 2020, which is now the dominant variant in Germany as well.
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