More contagious COVID-19 variant might soon become dominant in Germany
- By Reuters -
- Mar 05, 2021
BERLIN: A more contagious variant of the coronavirus first detected in Britain might soon become the predominant strain in Germany, making it hard to stop its spread, the head of the Robert Koch Institute said on Friday.
Lothar Wieler said the B117 variant now made up more than 40% of coronavirus cases in Germany, compared to about 6% of cases four weeks ago.
“It is foreseeable that B117 will soon be the predominant variant in Germany and then it will be even more difficult to keep the virus in check because B117 is more contagious and even more dangerous in all age groups,” he said.
How is the new strain different from other COVID strains?
The B117 strain is not the only mutation of COVID-19 that is known to us. Viruses have a nasty habit of evolving fast in response to our immunity. Multiple strains already exist and are categorized into 4 groups- Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and delta.
The simple reason is that B117 virus is more contagious.
Experts have also found that the B117 virus does not cause a more severe infection than the other strains. Its only danger lies in the fact that it is more communicable.