A few days before the next meeting of the federal and state governments on the corona restrictions, there are increasing signs of an extension of the lockdown.

Because the three known mutants of the Sars-CoV-2 virus have now arrived in Germany.

"They are not yet dominating the action," said the President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) Lothar Wieler on Friday in Berlin, but sees no reason to give the all-clear due to the continued high numbers of infections and deaths, on the contrary.

Overall, the virus has become more dangerous, especially the mutant B1.1.7, which was first detected in Great Britain, is not only more contagious, but also apparently leads to more severe courses.

Heike Schmoll

Political correspondent in Berlin, responsible for the “educational worlds”.

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The so-called R value of the mutant is about 0.5 higher - that's a huge number. "The virus is not tired yet, on the contrary, it just got a boost," said Wieler, who expects more mutants to appear. "The situation is far from under control," he warned and urgently asked for further compliance with the distance and hygiene rules. Wieler referred to dramatic developments, especially in Portugal, where 60 percent of the positive tests are now due to the British mutant, and Denmark, where it is 30 percent. He was also concerned about developments in Tyrol, where apparently thousands of people were on the pretext of being a ski instructor, had spent a ski holiday and were infected with the South African variant.An opening of daycare centers and schools in Germany could only be possible with clear protection concepts, he said.

British mutant mainly in Schleswig-Holstein

In order to get a quick overview of the mutants circulating in Germany, a total of 34,442 samples of 49,962 positive tests were tested for the three particularly common mutants with a 100,000 special test donated by the Berlin company Tib Molbiol. This happened in five laboratory groups, which will now examine all positive tests for the mutants every two weeks. The British mutant B 1.1.7 has been detected in 13 of the 16 federal states, most notably in Schleswig-Holstein, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, Hesse and Bremen. The South African variant B 1,351 was detected in seven federal states, with the highest proportion in Baden-Württemberg, followed by Bavaria, Hamburg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony.Overall, their share is around 6 percent of positive tests; this rate is confirmed by genome sequencing.

While a total of 1,500 genome sequencing was carried out in 2020, it rose to 3,000 in January 2021, reported Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU). The President of the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), Klaus Cichutek, pointed out that the vaccines used so far could handle the British variant well, but that the South African and Brazilian variants were probably worse, but this has not yet been adequately clarified. Cichutek contradicted the fear that the newly approved vector vaccine from the company Astra-Zeneca was less effective, rather it was "excellent" in the sufficiently examined age groups under 64 years and had a favorable risk-benefit ratio. Lung damage could be avoided according to all that is currently known.Cichutek put the effectiveness of the Astra Zeneca vaccine at 60 percent. In addition, the overall risk profile is somewhat more tolerable than the two mRNA vaccines from Biontech and Moderna.