RKI President: “We have to save time”
At a press conference, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) provided information on the latest findings on the corona virus. “We have to save time,” said RKI President Lothar Wieler. This is crucial because it is a novel virus. The more time you have, the more information there is about transmission routes and therapy options.
What is special about the virus is the high rate of spread and the high number of serious illnesses. 80 percent of those affected showed weak symptoms, 15 percent became seriously ill. “That is a lot,” said Wieler. The death rate of one to two percent, according to current figures, is also high. This affects particularly old and “very old” people as well as people with a compressed immune system. For comparison: With “normal” flu, the mortality is usually around 0.2 percent. In addition, there is no vaccine for the foreseeable future. The good news is that good and numerous studies are currently being carried out in China on which therapies work.
In Germany there is no reason to block cities like in Italy. The RKI relies on isolation for sick people and quarantine measures for so-called contact persons, i.e. people who have had contact with those affected. “It may be that we come to the point that we are no longer in control. Nevertheless, we will continue to do this because we can still slow down the spread of the virus. Even if we can no longer understand the route of infection, ”said Wieler. For the effectiveness of breathing masks to protect against infection in everyday life, there is currently “no evidence that this is helpful”.
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