Germany: Lauterbach and Montgomery are fueling panic over a new Corona variant

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) and World Medical Director Frank Ulrich Montgomery have again warned of new corona outbreaks and called for protective measures. This time it's about the Omicron variant BA.5, which is currently appearing increasingly in Portugal. Therefore Germany must protect itself. Lauterbach speaks of "bad news" and Montgomery recently called for a new lockdown. However, virologists say that BA.5 is more contagious but no more dangerous than the currently dominant omicron variant BA.2.

Corona is not over. The BA.5 outbreak in Portugal is evidence of this, said the German world medical director to the Rheinische Post. There, the 7-day incidence today is 1,713. What he is hiding: the numbers are falling. On May 25, the value was just under 1,900. In Portugal, 95.5 percent of all people are vaccinated once, more than 87 percent are fully vaccinated. Montgomery acknowledged that vaccinated people also become infected. But you would have milder symptoms.

Lauterbach fears the next corona wave
Lauterbach tweeted about the development in the Western European country: "This is rather bad news. The particularly contagious BA4/BA5 variant is also on the rise here. This could be the next wave in the fall.” Montgomery added that BA.5 will also spread to Germany. Many people – including those who have been vaccinated – would become ill. Therefore protective measures are necessary.

For Germany, the Robert Koch Institute has so far only registered a few infected people with BA.5. Their share is 2.5 percent. BA.2 continues to dominate with 96.4 percent.

Source: Junge Freiheit