Experts anticipate that the particularly contagious Delta variant, which appeared for the first time in India, will become the leading variant in Germany in autumn. In other countries, however, the mutation already has the upper hand.
It is most pronounced in Great Britain, where the number of new infections is rising sharply. But the mutant is also on the advance in Portugal and Russia. For Friday, the Russian capital Moscow reported a new high with 9056 new infections.
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In the Portuguese capital Lisbon, however, the situation is so tense that the 2.8 million residents are only allowed to leave the region for good reason at the weekend due to the sharp increase in cases. Previously, the highest number of cases since the end of February was recorded in Portugal on Wednesday with 1350 new infections within 24 hours.
Most of the infections had occurred in the capital. So far only one in five people has been fully vaccinated there. Besides Portugal, only Spain is currently recording an increase in new infections in the EU. In Spain, the number of new weekly infections increased by 21 percent compared to the previous week, in Portugal the increase was even 38 percent. The 7-day incidence in Portugal is 60.
Government spokeswoman Mariana Viera da Silva described the lockdown as an additional preventive measure that was not intended. The government took this to curb the increase in incidence in the greater Lisbon area. Vitor Almeida from the Portuguese Medical Association’s crisis team also said that “Daily News“That the lockdown is a precautionary measure.
The government now wants to prevent the situation from spilling over to the rest of the country. The physician Almeida regards the suburbs of Lisbon as problematic, because the people there lived very closely together and after the lockdown would have a great need to catch up with social contacts.
Nevertheless, the situation is not comparable to that at the beginning of the year, and the death rate is low. Two people died of the corona virus in Portugal on Thursday. A total of 862,000 people were infected with Covid in Portugal, and 17,057 people died of or with the virus.
Tourists should hardly be affected by the lockdown
“The greater Lisbon area is really an exception in Portugal, the numbers are increasing very rapidly. The reason is clearly the Delta variant, which is dominant in Lisbon, ”says Vitor Almeida.
Lisbon tourists should hardly be affected by the cordon off: The relevant excursion destinations, for example the palaces in Sintra in the mountains or the seaside resort of Estoril are within the cordoned off area. The Lisbon metropolitan region extends over a larger area than the Saarland. Foreigners are only allowed to enter in exceptional cases. It is believed that the Delta variant was brought into the country by British tourists.
Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had vehemently rejected a possible further lockdown at the weekend. The contagion rate alone does not justify drastic restrictions as long as hospital admissions are well below the winter high, he said.
In numerous other European countries, on the other hand, the corona numbers are continuing to decrease. For this reason, the federal government will remove Greece, almost all of France, Switzerland and Belgium from the list of risk areas on Sunday. The Robert Koch Institute announced on Friday. Anyone who comes to Germany from there by land will no longer have to observe any entry restrictions due to Corona in the future. (with agencies)
