BERLIN (Reuters) – 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.
(Reporting by Paul Carrel and Caroline Copley)
