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Berlin (dpa) - The virologist Christian Drosten still sees many open questions about the new Corona variant B.1.1.7, which was first detected in Great Britain.
"It's still very difficult to classify," said the head of virology at the Berlin Charité in the "Coronavirus Update" podcast on Tuesday at NDR-Info.
“I assume that we may, say, by Easter or by May have very clear experimental evidence as to whether this virus is now more transmissible and more dangerous or not.
But that will just take time. "
The virologist described how widespread the new variant is in Germany is currently being compiled.
He is currently not assuming there will be a major problem with it.
After seeing data from Denmark on the subject, he was of the opinion that the variant had to be taken seriously, explained Drosten.
In Germany, too, one has to look more closely at the mutation.
The background to this is fears that the variant is more transmissible - that is, that an infected person will infect more people on average than before, i.e. the variant is associated with a higher number of reproductions.
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With regard to the effectiveness of the vaccination, Drosten reiterated: "We don't have any major worries at the moment."
Rather, the concern is that the variant could have a significantly higher R-value compared to earlier forms, around 1.5 instead of 1. If such a scenario is confirmed, it would be a problem, according to Drosten.
“That's an exponential phenomenon,” he emphasized.
The virologist has repeatedly expressed the hope that B.1.1.7 could make you less ill.
After verification in Great Britain, the variant was also confirmed in other countries.
So far, only a few cases are known in Germany, for example in Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Robert Koch Institute expects more cases to come.
Experts fear that the spread could make fighting the pandemic more difficult.
A Corona variant known from South Africa must also be observed “at least as much as the English one,” emphasized Drosten.
He believes that travelers returning from the country should be tested.
There is now a time window to prevent the spread in this country.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210106-99-911583 / 2