Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - The omicron subtype BA.5 is also on the rise in the southwest and could be responsible for the majority of all corona infections in the country in four weeks. Experts from the State Health Office expect this, as a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Stuttgart announced on Thursday. The "Südwest Presse" reported first.
In the past few weeks, the proportion of BA.5 certificates in Germany and Baden-Württemberg has always doubled, it said. According to data from the laboratories in the southwest, it was already three to ten percent in all samples examined last week. However, these data do not provide a complete picture, as only a small proportion of the cases of infection are examined for the virus variant each week.
After the number of reported new corona infections in Baden-Württemberg had fallen for a long time in spring, the number of daily cases of infection has been increasing again since the end of May.
With the Omicron sub-line BA.5, which caused the number of corona cases to increase in Portugal, among other things, growth is also becoming increasingly clear nationwide. Despite the high vaccination rate of 87 percent, the number of hospital patients and mortality related to Covid-19 have recently increased in Portugal. BA.5 has basically been known for a few weeks. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies the subtype as part of omicron as a concern.
