Germany’s fourth largest city, the federal government’s initiative does not go far enough to examine five to ten percent of the corona tests for virus mutations. Every PCR test is analyzed there.
– – –
Mith a look at the spread of more contagious Covid-19 mutations, the federal cabinet made a clear decision last week: laboratories were obliged to examine the virus genome more often. Depending on the incidence, between five and ten percent of the positive PCR tests should be checked for the mutations.
For some experts, this approach does not go far enough: In Cologne, Germany’s fourth largest city, they are now going a big step further.
As WELT learned, since the beginning of the week, without exception, every positive PCR test has been checked to see whether it is a new Sars-CoV-2 variant. Florian Klein, director of the Institute for Virology at the University Clinic in Cologne, contacted the city administration and offered to carry out appropriate tests in the University Clinic’s laboratories. Private laboratories also agreed to participate in the new test strategy.