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Hanover (dpa / lni) - In Lower Saxony, an infection with the coronavirus mutation from Great Britain has so far been detected in four cases.
It was a person from the Hanover region who fell ill in November, as well as three people from the Vechta district, in whom the virus was detected in January, but who were asymptomatic, said Social Minister Carola Reimann (SPD) on Friday in the state parliament in Hannover.
Those affected either had previously been in Great Britain themselves or had contact with people who had previously been in Great Britain.
So far, tests for the mutated virus form have only been carried out on an ad hoc basis.
"The British mutation has also arrived in Germany and Lower Saxony, but we do not know to what extent and in what dynamic it already occurs in our country," said Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) in the state parliament.
The state health office, the state office for consumer protection and food safety and the university clinics are involved in the nationwide establishment of an examination structure with a view to mutated viruses.
According to Reimann, the health department can begin with appropriate examinations in the first half of February.
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Concerns about major outbreaks of infection as a result of the much more contagious British virus mutation was one reason for the extension and tightening of the current lockdown.
Despite falling incidence values, caution should therefore be exercised, emphasized Weil.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210122-99-130898 / 2
Agenda of the state parliament session